The beatification of Mother Teresa could also have been her canonization.
According to the Italian press of Sunday September 7, the Pope addressed a letter to all the heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia last June, expressing his desire to beatify and also to canonize the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity on the same day, this October 19. The majority of the prelates consulted gave a negative reply.
Mother Teresa has already been granted preferential treatment in the context of her beatification process. Thus, on the orders of the Pope, the five years which should precede the opening of the process on a diocesan level, were reduced to just one. Indeed, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, so the investigation should not have begun until September 2002 according to the norms of the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, promulgated by John Paul II on January 25, 1983. At the Vatican, this impatience is explained by the Popes personal wish to be able to declare a saint, someone whom he knew personally.
The celebrations surrounding the beatification will begin on October 17 in the basilica of St. John Lateran, where her relics will be exposed until October 22. The evening of the 17th, a prayer vigil will be organized for the intention of priests. The following day the Missionaries of Charity will pray for the Missions, during a vigil organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
There will be a preview of a film about Mother Teresa on the afternoon of the19th, in the Paul VI room in the Vatican. On October 20 there will be a day of thanksgiving for the Missionaries of Charity, a Mass will be celebrated in St. Peters Square by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints. This Mass will be followed by an audience with the Pope for the Sisters.
In India, the Bishops Conference has made a request to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, that October 19 be declared a national holiday. An official government delegation may travel to Rome on October 19, and plans for a televised transmission of the ceremony, on an Indian public television channel, are being discussed. The Indian bishops have all asked for the establishment of a national foundation bearing the name of Mother Teresa, for the support of orphans and the homeless from all over India.
In Albania, Mother Teresa has been nominated godmotherof the first major marathon in Tirana (sic), organized for October 19. Several events and exhibitions in her honor have been organized in the capital, in particular at the national museum.
