Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City has said that religious sister Mother Teresa will be canonised as saint next year after recognising a second miracle that has been attributed to her.
The decision has been hailed by several across the world, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "Just heard the good news Blessed Mother Teresa to be made a Saint in 2016. My best wishes to Missionaries of Charity on this joyous occasion," she tweeted on Friday.
However, there are a few others who are not convinced with the idea of giving her a title of saint.
While some are of the view that she doesn't need sainthood as her humanitarian work is enough to recognise her, there are others who believe she was not "saintly".
Some of those who are not convinced with the idea of making Mother Teresa a saint have claimed that she "converted people to Christianity".
There are others who have questioned the "miracle".
Even the first miracle attributed to Mother Teresa was challenged by some of the doctors who treated the patient, a woman with abdominal tumour.
Members of Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation set up by Mother Teresa, had claimed that she was cured after they placed a photo of Mother Teresa on her stomach. This claim was refuted by the doctors who said that the medical treatment cured the woman as the tumour hadn't grown much, according to a 2003 The Telegraph report.
"She had a medium-sized tumour in her lower abdomen caused by tuberculosis. The drugs she was given eventually reduced the cystic mass and it disappeared after a year's treatment," Dr Ranjan Kumar Mustafi from Balurghat Hospital in West Bengal had said.
Below are the reactions from some of the Twitter users who are not convinced with the idea:
Don't see why we should ascribe bogus miracles to Mother Teresa for Vatican mumbo jumbo of sainthood. Its enough to be a good human being. — vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) December 18, 2015
Those who mocked Baba Ramdev's Ayurvedic medicines will be celebrating St:Mother Teresa and her miracle today ! pic.twitter.com/i7JRyOUHFc
— Revolutionary Monk (@RevolutionMonk) December 18, 2015
Is tht not enough to be recognized as Good Human being..Y sainthood fr Mother Teresa.God hs sent us 2 be Good Human https://t.co/w5g16CzzYm — Sapna Mishra (@ISapnaMishra) December 18, 2015
@rubenmasc I still find it hard to believe that miracles are needed for granting sainthood
— meena karnik (@meenakarnik) December 18, 2015
"Mother Teresa" did enourmous duty to convert indian to christian and qualify to saint or blabla — praveen tip (@praveentips) December 18, 2015
Everybody knows and respects Mother Teresa's work. She did worked for uplifting the Ignored. But making Saint is a foolish n unscientific.
— Socialist Coconut (@Soc_Coconut) December 18, 2015
Great respect for Mother Teresa, but calling her a saint is like saying Santa Clause is real. — Aparna Premkumar (@PriyaPremkumar2) December 18, 2015
The canonisation of Mother Teresa is likely to take place on 4 September, 2016, the Holy Year of Mercy, according to Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire.
The decision was taken after the second miracle was approved by a Congregation on 15 December. The miracle involved a 42-year-old man who was suddenly healed from "multiple brain abscesses with obstructive hydrocephalus" in 2008, Avvenire reported.
The report suggested that his family and friends had prayed to Mother Teresa that caused the miracle. The first miracle happened in 2003 in India that led to Mother Teresa's beatification, the first step towards sainthood. The second miracle is the final step to be anointed as a saint.
Mother Teresa was born on 26 August, 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. She died on 5 September, 1997 in Calcutta, now known as Kolkata.
