Rome's Pilgrims

From USA Today:

"Pilgrims trek to Rome for Mother Teresa's canonization"

When a massive crowd converges on St. Peter's Square this Sunday to watch Pope Francis make Mother Teresa a Catholic saint, Janet and Steve Ray will have perch with a bird’s-eye view: the roof of the Vatican. The Rays will lead a group of 44 American pilgrims, a fraction of the thousands of Americans traveling to Italy, India and the Holy Land this year to commemorate the life of Mother Teresa, the modern-day "saint of the gutter." Known for half a century for her unconditional ‎love ‎for the poor and marginalized, Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was put on the fast track to sainthood by Pope John Paul II. On Sunday, she becomes a saint – less than 20 years after her death. Speaking by phone on Wednesday from Rome where he was awaiting his group, Steve Ray said he’d just finished a similar Teresa-themed pilgrimage to India with another group. “Everyone in India loves her, and she’s not even Indian — she’s Albanian,” he said. “She transcends national boundaries and religious boundaries.” Francis announced last spring that Mother Teresa would become a saint on Sept. 4.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu‎ of Albanian parents in 1910, in Skopje, in what ‎is now ‎Macedonia, she joined the Loreto order of nuns in 1928. In 1946, while traveling by train from Kolkata (then called Calcutta) to Darjeeling, she was inspired to found the India-based Missionaries of Charity order. It has since opened more than 130 houses worldwide to provide comfort and care for the needy. ‎She earned several international honors, including ‎the ‎Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. At the time of her death at age 87, Missionaries of Charity supported 4,000 nuns and ran hundreds of orphanages, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and clinics around the world. John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa in 2003 after a first miracle was attributed to her: answering an Indian woman's prayers to cure her brain tumor, according to the Vatican. Beatification requires one miracle, described by the Catholic Church as recognition of a person's entrance into heaven. Sainthood requires two. Francis officially cleared Mother Teresa for the honor last December, recognizing her "miraculous healing" of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses.  Without dispensation from the pope, five years must pass from the time of the candidate’s death before an examination for sainthood can begin. Once deemed worthy by the Vatican, the candidate is called a “Servant of God.” In Mother Teresa's case, the examination began almost immediately after her death. Francis, who has made outreach to the poor a priority for the Catholic Church, met Mother Teresa more than two decades ago, while he was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. He is known for admiring her ministry as well as her fearlessness in speaking out on behalf of society’s outcasts.

^ This is a really special honor for a really special woman. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/09/01/pilgrims-trek-rome-mother-teresas-canonization/89669356/