How to be canonized as Mother Teresa?

Mother Teresa - a Catholic monk who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her activities to help the poor was officially canonized in early September.

She died in 1997 and 19 years later was recognized as a Saint. Even so, the process of canonization is not always so long and complicated. Before that, two Saints Peter and Paul were recognized by their Church for their fame and martyrdom.

However, there have been many problems with this unofficial method. Therefore, Father William Saunders explained in the Arlington Catholic Herald Catholic newspaper as follows:

"As time goes by, the Church finds it necessary to tighten the process of canonization. Unfortunately, some characters who have not really met the requirements are also honored as a Saint. There are cases, one The local church in Sweden has canonized a monk, who was killed in a drunken brawl and is said to have died of martyrdom. "

Mother Teresa.

Therefore, Pope Gregory IX formalized the process of canonization in 1234 and requested a thorough understanding of the life and volunteer work of those who want to stand for election.

Then, in 1588, the Congregation in charge of the Rites (now the Congregation for the Saints) undertook the task of overseeing the process of canonization and the official process was established from there.

Basically, according to Australia's ABC news page, the title of Saints recognizes the holiness in a person's life and their connection to God after his death. Saints are considered exemplars of faith and they can be respected and prayed by people.

Two main requirements to become a Saint:

• Candidates need to be a martyr or prove that they have a "heroic life" with virtues such as faith, hope, love and courage .
• Miracles must happen after the candidate dies.For example, someone who sees a candidate or heals a wound after praying .

The first request is relatively simple because it is determined when you learn about the candidate's life. In Mother Teresa's case, there was a lot of literature about her life of virtue, including public commentary and personal correspondence.

Even so, Joel Hodge - a theologian at the Catholic University of Australia said that the aspect of color miracles of canonization is often strange and surprising, especially for non-Catholics.

So why does this request still exist? Dr. Hodge explained that this is the problem of bringing God into the process of canonization.

The canonization process is an extremely strict process.

"We can implement the best methods to assess that person's life, but even when we do, we cannot know their hearts and minds completely. And finally, only God knows these things, this is the meaning of the canonization of the Saints and the second requirement in the process. "

Dr Hodge added that this is a rigorous process . They even consulted with medical experts to confirm that self-healing occurs as a basis.

However, he said that the belief in Jesus' miracles and resurrection is the center of Catholicism and the belief in the miracles of the Saints sometimes becomes too unnecessary for virtue. believe.

It is worth noting that Pope Francis recently canonized the four Saints without needing them to meet the second requirement.

Why is the canonization process so long?

Mother Teresa actually got a relatively fast canonization because in fact, this process could take hundreds of years.

By the 20th century, it must be at least 50 years since the candidate died and this person was considered. But Pope John Paul II changed this rule and reduced it to 5 years. And in Mother Teresa's case, this waiting period was completely exempted.