Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press, released a statement today regarding reports of a possible date on the canonization of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
The Vatican spokesman’s statement was in response to several articles published today in Italy’s Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica newspaper, which stated that Pope Francis would canonize the Albanian nun on September 4th, 2016.
The latter said that a message was sent by a Vatican official to government authorities regarding the logistics of the celebration, which would occur during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year, recently announced by Pope Francis.
In a brief statement delivered to journalists at the Holy See Press Office, said that the dates announced by the newspapers were a “working hypothesis” and that there no official confirmation.
“The cause of Mother Teresa is still ongoing and it is therefore premature to speak of a date already for the canonization,” Fr. Lombardi said.
Known as the ‘Saint of the Gutters’, Mother Teresa was known for her charitable works with the poor and sick, through the order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity. The order ran hospices for people suffering HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis starting in Calcutta and spreading to over 130 countries.
Immediately following her death in 1997, the Catholic Church began her process of beatification. She was beatified by St. John Paul II in 2002, following the recognition of the miraculous healing of an Indian woman suffering from a tumor in her abdomen. Although a second miracle is required for canonization, Pope Francis can chose to proceed without it as he had done for the canonization of his predecessor, Saint John XXIII.
