Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio)  Tens of thousands of faithful are expected to turn out for the canonization Sunday 4 September of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Founder of the religious order, Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa dedicated her life to helping the poorest of the poor, the sick, the dying and unloved. She received numerous awards for her work, including the Nobel peace prize in 1979.  Mother Teresa died on September 5^th, 1997 at the age of 87.  She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

Missionaries of Charity Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk is postulator for her cause for Sainthood.  He told Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure  “She was very gifted humanly speaking.  She was intelligent, very practical, a born teacher, organizer… she sang, had a beautiful voice; she played the instrument, she wrote poetry. She had many gifts”

He added that Mother Teresa expected the four thousand sisters who now make up the order to be devoted to Jesus and to live a life of simplicity: “the sisters who joined were very talented doctors, nurses and others – but they were supposed to live simply as all the other sisters.  And she herself did it.”

“She disguised the profundity of her holiness by the exterior simplicity of her life and of her words, even.”

 “If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of Darkness” 

“If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of Darkness,”  Mother Teresa once said.  She also believed she would be “absent from heaven.” Asked what she meant by this, Fr. Brian explained:

“I think it was Mother Teresa’s ‘mission statement’ of what she will be doing when she,  as she used to say, ‘goes home to God.’  From the letters that we discovered [after her death]  when we began collecting the documents that were published in “Mother Teresa Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta,” to the surprise, if not shock of everyone, even the sisters closest to Mother Teresa, we discovered that her interior experience was what she called “the Darkness”  and that she is a woman passionately in love with Jesus.”

The shock was greatest because Mother Teresa’s seemingly never-ending energy and organizational skills had led everyone to believe she lived with the consoling knowledge of Jesus’ love for her. 

Yet the letters revealed “that she is feeling unloved, unwanted by Jesus,” noted Fr. Brian.  “She feels that she cannot love Jesus as she wants to love him: as he’s never been loved before - which is a daring resolution to even make if you’re taking it seriously.”

Fr. Brian recalled reading some of her correspondence to the sisters in the mother house in Calcutta, India who knew her well.  “They were really crying because you were reading them and you know Mother, it’s your mother, and then you’re hearing this and you have a sense of how she’s suffering…”

Some of the most revealing of her letters were addressed directly to Jesus, to whom she described her agony over doubts about the strength of her faith and Jesus’ love for her.  

She wrote, ‘I am willing to go through this for all eternity even if this is for your pleasure or if others can benefit from this, if it were possible’ explained Fr. Brian.   “The magnanimity, the great soul in this is just tremendous:  ‘I want to satiate your thirst with every drop of blood that you can find in me.’  So that’s why when you are reading this or hearing this, the sisters were crying in the mother house.  If that’s not love for God, then I don’t know what is.”

Did Mother Teresa know she would be made a saint?

Asked what Mother Teresa would have said if she knew that she would indeed be made a saint, Fr. Brian answered:

“I think that she was innocent and pure but she wasn't stupid or naive.  So I think that she had a sense that…. You know, at a news conference, a journalist would ask:  ‘Well Mother Teresa, why do you think people call you a living saint?’ And then, she would say, … ‘you or we shouldn’t be surprised if you see Jesus in me because it’s an obligation for all of us to be holy.’”

“I think she must have had some sense that she would be (made a saint) but that said, I think one of her other outstanding virtues is humility,” continued Fr. Brian.  “Because she was one of the most admired women in the twentieth century – not just in the Church – not since St. Francis of Assisi has someone had that echo outside the Church.  Of course we have other great saints but (who) has that echo? … Even in the culture, you’ll see in a movie or in a book or something, someone will say, ‘who do you think I am, Mother Teresa?’  There’s a sense that they just identify Mother Teresa with goodness, kindness, charity….”

The Miracle

The miraculous healing of Marcilio Haddad Andrino in 2008 in Brazil has been attributed to Mother Teresa’s intervention.  Fr. Brain notes that Marcilio was “diagnosed as having a bacterial brain infection that led to multiple abscesses which led to hydrocephaly – water in the brain … his wife Fernanda began a novena to pray for his recovery.” 

She kept praying through December 9^th, recounted Fr. Brian, when “he was in such extreme pain from all the pressure of water on the brain that he went into a coma.  Basically, on that day he was dying. So they kept praying – a doctor wanted to do an operation to drain the liquid and they couldn’t do it the normal way because there was a problem in the throat and the anesthesiologist was afraid to do it.  Around  6:00,  Marcilio was in the operating room, and around 6.10 pm the doctor left to try to find I think the endocrinologist or someone to do it in another way.” 

When the doctor returned to the operating room at about 6:40 pm, Fr. Brian explained, “Marcilio who was already in a deep coma, 3 on the Glasgow scale – 15 is conscious and 3 is like near death – and then [suddenly], Marcilio is awake, no pain, and he looks around the operating room and says, ‘what am I doing here?’  At that time, his wife was also praying intensely.” 

Neurosurgeons in Brazil and Rome who examined Marcilio’s before and after brain scans were dumbfounded: they “said there’s no way you can go from here to here,” Fr. Brian added.  The doctor who treated Marcilio said of the thirty patients  in his care for the same condition, Marcilio is the only one to have ever survived.

The “side” miracle, Fr. Brian says, is the fact that Marcilio and his wife, who had been told they would never be able to have kids, discovered that Fernanda was pregnant and would have two children.

Listen to Tracey McClure's interview with Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuck:

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(Vatican Radio) With the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata), we take a closer look at the figure of the Founder of the Missionaries of Charity Order with the help of audio recordings of her voice. 

Mother Teresa was already widely revered as a saint during her lifetime for her charity work on behalf of the poor, the sick and dying, initially in India and then in many other countries around the around.  

But as Susy Hodges found out, she was concerned about poverty in all its forms and spoke eloquently about the neglect and loneliness suffered by many elderly people in the richer western countries which she described as a spiritual poverty.  

Listen to this feature report on the figure of Mother Teresa that includes audio recordings of her speaking in English including an excerpt from a speech she gave that was inspired by her visit to a residential home for the elderly in England: 

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the players and staff of the AS Roma soccer club, along with the players and staff of his own favorite Argentine San Lorenzo de Almagro club on Friday.

Click below to hear our report

AS Roma is to face San Lorenzo in a friendly contest on Saturday afternoon.

All proceeds from the friendly, are to be donated to the ongoing earthquake relief effort in central Italy, which was struck on August 24^th by a temblor that killed nearly 300 people and caused massive devastation.

“Thanks for your visit,” Pope Francis told the clubs, “and thanks for your generosity in giving to the earthquake victtims.”

The audience took place a day ahead of the Festival of the Family organized by Roma as part of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

A note in English on the AS Roma website announcing the special audience notes that the Family Festival – which will be held at Rome’s Olympic Stadium – comes at a time in which the victims of the recent earthquake in central Italy are very much on the minds and in the hearts of the club and of all involved.

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(Vatican Radio) As Pope Francis has reiterated again and again, human trafficking is a crime against humanity, an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ, an evil to be eradicated.

One of the continents most affected by this evil is Africa as thousands of vulnerable people are trafficked within and from Africa for labour, sexual exploitation and in many crisis situations.

That’s why Caritas Internationalis and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People have organized a 3-day International Conference entitled ‘Human Trafficking within and from Africa’ in Abuja, Nigeria.

From 5 to 7 September members of the COATNET network – Christian Organizations Against Trafficking in Human Beings (of which Caritas is part) - and other key stakeholders such as Faith-Based Organizations International,  regional organizations, law enforcement and other NGOs will share practices on cooperation and challenges and identify common strategies for prevention regarding the trafficking of persons.

Father Pierre Cibambo, ecclesiastical assistant and Africa liaison officer for Caritas Internationalis told Linda Bordoni why the conference is so important.

Listen: 

Father Pierre Cibambo explains the event is particularly important for Caritas Internationalis because the fight against human trafficking it is one of the priorities identified in the network’s strategic framework and operational plan.

“This is an important issue: Caritas Internationalis and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People are co-organizing this international conference which is hosted by Caritas Nigeria because we really want to raise awareness and give hope to those who are caught in this tragedy of modern slavery” he says.

Cibambo says although it is poignant that the event is taking place in Nigeria where the issue of human trafficking is a tangible problem, he points out that the whole of the African continent is sadly involved.

He explains the conference allows for the bringing together of stakeholders and actors involved, from Churches and faith-based organizations to leaders and officials who are committed to fighting human trafficking across Africa.

Cibambo says the role of faith-based organizations in this endeavor is fundamental as they are able “to share their analysis and compare information regarding the situations and contexts in which trafficking is happening; to understand its root causes; to share good practices in fighting, in preventing and in advocating” together to fight against this ‘modern slavery’ as Pope Francis has called it.

He says that Pope Francis is a strong supporter of the entire Caritas mission: “he has been very supportive to all we do, whether it is responding to major emergencies, whether it is working with local communities to fight against hunger – he was a strong supporter of the Caritas campaign against hunger – he also supports all our work against trafficking and calls for us to engage on all levels, from the grass roots to the international, with local communities, with religious communities and congregations, with local Churches, with local leaders to ensure that this is not happening any more”.

Cibambo also speaks of the creation of the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in which the victims of human trafficking are specifically mentioned as a particular concern and he says it gives even more strength to the Church to gather energy and address the issue.

“The new dicastery will help us come together, work together, organize our services, use our resources (…) it will really raise the profile of the Church and help us in putting the human person at the center of our mission” he said.

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Militants in Pakistan attacked a Christian colony near the northwestern city of Peshawar killing a civilian in the exchange of fire.  Militants wearing suicide vests stormed the Christian neighborhood early on Friday morning, triggering a shoot-out in which four attackers were killed and one Christian died, police and the military said. Three security officials and two civilian guards were wounded in the attack.  Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement that the attack was quickly repulsed and that security forces were searching for any accomplices.

Local police official Shaukat Khan said four suicide bombers entered the Christian colony. One of them went into a church, but no one was there at the time. He said the attackers killed one Christian in the neighborhood. It was not immediately clear if any of the suicide bombers had detonated their explosives.  The quick response from the local civilian guards and security forces prevented more deaths, Khan said. 

In a separate suicide bomb attack on a district court in Mardan, some 40 kilometers northeast of Peshawar, a militant killed 10 people and wounded 41 others. The suicide bomber threw a grenade at the district court before detonating his explosives, according to government spokesman Mushtaq Ghani. He said that lawyers, policemen and passers-by were among the 10 people killed in the attack. Some of the wounded were critically injured, Ghani said.  Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ur-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attacks.  (Source: AP)

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Who is Mother Teresa of Calcutta? Well Mother Teresa herself gave her identity: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."  On Sept. 4, 2016, Mother Teresa will be officially proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis at a canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.  Even before this ceremony, she has been acclaimed a saint not just by Christians, but many others of other faiths.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu‎ of Albanian parents on ‎August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in ‎what ‎is ‎Macedonia today, Mother Teresa came to eastern India’s Kolkata city, formerly Calcutta, in ‎‎1929, as a missionary of the Sisters of Loreto.  Later, in what she described as a ‘call within a call’, she founded ‎her Missionaries of Charity congregation in 1950 to serve Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.  She obtained Indian citizenship the following year.   ‎Mother Teresa earned 124 national as well as international honours for her works of mercy, ‎including ‎the ‎Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.   She died on September 5, ‎‎1997 at the age of 87 ‎and ‎St. ‎John ‎Paul II declared her Blessed in the Vatican, on October 19, 2003.  ‎ ‎

Mother Teresa often accepted invitations to talk, as they would offer her an opportunity to draw the ‎world’s attention on the poor and needy.  Here’s one such interview where she talked Anto Akkara, an Indian rights advocate and journalist with international media.   Mother Teresa spoke to Anto Akkara on November 17, 1995 at the Missionaries of Charity’s ‘Nirmala Sishu Bhavan’ centre in New Delhi.  Below is a transcript of the interview.

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Anto Akkara: Mother, what is your mother tongue?

Mother Teresa: Albanian. But, I am equally fluent in Bengali (language of Calcutta) and English.

AA: Right now what do you feel: Are you an Indian or Albanian?

MT: I am everything. Every country I love and I am a child of God to love the humans.

AA: So, you have no nationality?

MT: I have a diplomatic passport for India, diplomatic passport for Albania. I have Vatican passport and to America, I can go any time. Every time I ask for visa, they (USA) give me visa for five years.  I have never had any problem in getting a visa to any nation.

AA: When you started your Congregation, did you ever think that it would grow as it is today?

MT: ‎Oh, that everybody knows. We are now in 126 countries. We have 561 houses - tabernacles we call them - and over 4600 nuns.  It's simply to serve the poorest of the poor. We are wanted and we have championed those who have nothing, the deprived children of God. 

(Today, MCs are in 139 countries with 758 'Tabernacles' and 5160 nuns)

AA: What is the motive of all your work? Is it the fundamentalist religious motive as critics say?

MT: ‎Jesus has very clearly said in the gospel. "Whatever you do, do to the least of my brethren." Clear? That was the work of Jesus. Again, Jesus has said "Come, blessed of my Father, take the seat in the kingdom prepared for you, because I was hungry you gave me food, I was thirsty you have me drink, I was naked you clothed me, I was homeless you took me home and I was sick you visited me." And we are just doing that. Brothers, Fathers and Sisters - all of us in the Missionaries of Charity are doing the same. All of us have been created by God to love and to be loved. We are involved in this work. When you do that, there is joy, unity and love.

AA: There are allegations that you receive funds and awards from persons with dubious character. Do you verify the credentials of the donors before accepting anything? 

MT: ‎No question of that. We have a vow to give wholeheartedly everything to the poor. Whatever we get from the government or other people - even one rupee we get, we give it to the poor. Completely free service. We have no salaries.  When one says he is from a good Catholic family and says he wants to help us, why should we refuse his offer? ...

AA: Recently the Sankaracharya has accused that the ultimate aim of your "manav seva" (service to mankind) is conversion. How do you answer that?

MT: ‎My answer is: God forgive them all. For they know not what they are saying.  I have told everybody that what we are doing is for the love of God and works of love are always to accept and respect others. Works of love are always works of peace. In our home (for the dying at Kali Ghat) in Calcutta, there is great peace, unity and love. Many Hindu families bring food, clothing nonstop to our home for the dying. This is an act of love. I didn't ask them. They have only heard about what I am doing and they all come. They have to see the beautiful work that is being done. So many people (who go to her as volunteers) have found peace, joy and unity in their families by helping the poor. Anybody who helps the poor is delighted. So naturally, they (critics) are not very happy with us.

AA: What about the charge of conversion?

MT: ‎Nobody can convert you except God. Even if I want I cannot make you say sorry to God. Very less to say, I can make one Catholic or Protestant. Nobody can change your religion unless you want to and God gives you the grace. It's between you and God alone. Nobody can force you.  We pick up people dying full of worms from the street. We have picked up more than 40,000 of them. If I lift up such a person, clean him, love him and serve him, is it conversion? He has been there like an animal in the street but I am giving him love and he dies peacefully. That peace comes from his heart. That's between him and God. Nobody can interfere in that. Even if I wanted, I cannot do anything. When they die, we always send for their co-religionists. Muslims take the Muslim's body to bury it, Hindus come and take away the dead to be cremated and Christians come and bury their dead. I do make conversion, if conversion means really turning people to God - to have a clean heart and to love God. That's the real conversion.

AA: Critics allege secret baptisms in your homes. Is it true?

MT: ‎No, nothing. For all those who make such stories which are not true, I only say God forgive all these people. I feel sorry for them because they are doing so much harm to themselves. If a Hindu wants to find the way to God, he has the right to go to any priest, nun or any other person. If you are Catholic, and some other person comes to you seeking guidance, naturally you take him straight away to someone who can show him God's love. Conversion is not only changing the faith. Conversion is changing the heart and working over there is the grace of God. Then only comes the question of change of faith. Nobody can force you, not even the holy prophets.

AA: Do you have some new fields for your Congregation to enter?

MT: ‎I don't think we can do anything more than what we are doing now. We have picked up people full of worms from the streets, cared for them and let them die in peace and love. When they are brought to our home, they feel they are in their own homes, with their own families. Now, I am trying to open a house for AIDS victims here (in Delhi). The people are dying because of it.

AA: I heard you in September telling Catholic clergy in prison ministry that "to care for men and women in jail is to do something beautiful for God". Are you planning to enter the prison ministry?

MT: ‎We are already taking care of people from jail. Hundred and ten non-criminal women are already with us in Shantidhan (abode of peace). And soon, 22 boys will come to us from jail. Our Brothers will take care of them. (West Bengal state) Government has decided that non-criminal persons should not be kept in these kind of places and asked us to take care of them. They should live in an atmosphere of love. They need to be loved.

AA: You have been based in Calcutta which has been under Marxist rule for almost two decades. Have you had any trouble from the Marxist government of West Bengal headed by chief minister Jyoti Basu?

MT: ‎We never had any problem from them. Jyoti Basu has been very kind to us. He was the one who told me "Mother, please do something for these (jail) girls. He has been helpful and always accessible to us over phone. We also never had any problem whenever we wanted to meet him.

AA: Is it true that you want to open a house in Beijing?

MT: ‎Yes, I went to Beijing and we are going to open a house there by Easter.

(This dream of Mother still remains unfulfilled)

AA: What's your stand on abortion?

MT: I always say "if you are afraid of them (the unborn), give them to me. Please, don't kill them." We are fighting abortion through adoption. In Calcutta alone, we have given more than 1,000 children in adoption. I cannot calculate how many babies we get a year. But we never refuse anybody. Everybody is most welcome.

AA: Activists in the church say you are perpetrating poverty by your acts of charity instead of trying to end it. What about trying the liberating approach to improve the exploitative system?

MT: ‎How can I act in an impersonal manner? When a man dies in the street for want of food, how can I ignore him? When I find a starving or naked man in the street, I cannot walk past him. I think no human being can do that.  There are others who take up that (liberating) role. I have no time to spend for that. I am busy with my work. My path is clear. I see somebody dying, I pick him up. I find somebody hungry, I give him food. He can love and be loved. I don't look at his color, I don't look at his religion. I don't look at anything. Every person whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, he is my brother, my sister. I think we all do like that.

END

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(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See’s Press office, Greg Burke said it would be impossible to predict how many people will attend Sunday’s Canonization Mass for Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Speaking at a Vatican press conference giving details about the highly-anticipated event, Burke said all 100,000 tickets had been distributed for the Mass but that the crowd would likely be far greater, spilling into the streets around St. Peter’s Square.

Listen to this report by Susy Hodges: 

Some 600 journalists from all over the world have flocked to Rome to cover Mother Teresa’s Canonization Mass which is being seen by many as the highlight of this Jubilee Year of Mercy. More than a dozen heads of state or government will be among the many dignitaries attending the Mass. 

Among those speaking at the packed press conference on Friday morning was Sister Mary Prema Pierick, the Superior General of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Order, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for her sainthood cause and the Brazilian man, Marcilio Haddad Andrino, who was declared miraculously healed through Mother Teresa’s intercession.

Andrino described how he was suffering from a viral brain infection and the doctors had lost all hope of saving his life when his wife Fernanda prayed to Mother Teresa and immediately afterwards he found himself miraculously healed from the illness. He expressed gratitude for his recovery but said he is just one example of God’s ample mercy and love and stressed he "did not feel special." Within a year, his wife became pregnant and they were able to have two children even though Andrino had been told that the powerful drugs he had taken had made him infertile. He called his two children “the extension of that miracle.”

Turning to the technical side of the Canonization Mass, Burke told journalists that the event will be filmed using 4K Ultra High Definition and using nine television cameras. He said the Canonization can also be seen on the Vatican’s YouTube platform, on the Vatican player of Vatican Radio and on the website of the Vatican Television Service (CTV).  

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a telegram to AsiaNews director and Pontifical Missionary priest, Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, on Friday, in acknowledgment of the work his organization has done in preparing and presenting a symposium on the life and legacy of Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, who is to be canonized a saint this Sunday, Sept. 4^th.

Below, please find the full text of the telegram, in English translation provided by AsiaNews

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Rev. Father Bernardo Cervellera
Editor of AsiaNews - PIME

On the occasion of the International Symposium dedicated to the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as an icon of Mercy for Asia and the world, organized by the AsiaNews agency, in the context of the special Jubilee of Mercy and the imminence of the canonization of religious, the Holy Father Pope Francis sends his cordial and good wishes, praying that the example of life of Blessed, as a privileged witness of charity and generous attention to the poor and to the least, help bring Christ increasingly to the center of life and to live of his Gospel freely in the continuous exercise of works of mercy, to be builders of a better future, illuminated by the splendor of the Truth.

His Holiness invokes the heavenly intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of all comfort to devotees of Mother Teresa, so that imitating her apostolic zeal, they can implement the Revolution of Tenderness begun by Jesus Christ with his special love to the little ones.

And while asking for your prayers in support of his Petrine ministry, he cordially imparts to you, the organizers, the speakers and to all present the implored Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, September 2, 2016
Card. Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of His Holiness

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Rome, Italy, Sep 2, 2016 / 06:29 am (CNA).- Twenty-two years ago, Mother Teresa of Calcutta quietly visited the Regina Coeli prison in Rome, and now, just days before her canonization, she has “returned” for another visit, thanks to the help of technology.

The Regina Coeli prison in Rome, located not far from the Vatican, hosted an emotional encounter of detainees and two Missionaries of Charity – members of the congregation that Mother Teresa founded – who were able to bring the soon-to-be saint to life through a documentary film teaching more about her.

The prison currently houses 900 detainees, but in years prior, it had come to hold some 1,200. Father Vittorio Trani, a Conventual Franciscan and prison chaplain for 38 years, knew them all. He explained to CNA that Mother Teresa visited the prison in May 1994.

“She came somewhat incognito. I gave permission so they would let her in (because of the heavy security measures) but I didn't tell anyone about it. She came in and attended Mass with a few detainees. It was very emotional,” he related.

“We had set aside a nice chair for her in the middle, but when she came and saw it, she looked at me and said no and went to another simple chair that was in the back,” the priest recalled with a smile.

“Like other great saints, Mother Teresa has a lot of importance here also because the detainees see her as someone close (to them), she had that ability to be close to people,” he noted.

The priest explained that “we organized this encounter; it's a very good occasion for the prisoners who don't know her to get to do so” but especially to “bring them the message she came to announce to them.”

“This Sunday, the day of the canonization, we will celebrate a Mass, and then afterwards everyone will be able to see the ceremony on the television they have in their cells,” he said.

Fr. Trani said that “pastoral ministry in this prison is somewhat different” because “they stay here for a short time, just until the first court proceedings.”

“We do a pastoral ministry of encounter, where we sow and then we'll see if it remains and then bears fruit, but we give them a word of hope and try to stand alongside the person.” In addition, we have celebrations such as the Eucharist and periods of prayer,” he added.

In his opinion, prison “is one of the privileged places where God is most felt” because “the reality of being without freedom or without family leads all of them to reflect on what is the fundamental point of their lives.”

Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for the cause of Mother Teresa, was also at the event, along with Sister Patrick – a representative of the congregation in Calcutta – and Sister Cyrenne. They carried in procession a reliquary of Mother Teresa's blood from the prison chapel.

Sister Cyrenne explained to the detainees that the future saint “needs to be placed within a specific historical situation.”

“God called her and entered into our history, he became present, he called and there was a response of love. Mother Teresa said 'yes.'”

The concluding highlights of the visit were the testimonies read by some of the detainees, visibly moved, in which they especially spoke of the need to have peace and hope.

Once the encounter was over, Sister Patrick and Sister Cyrenne gave out holy cards of Mother Teresa to everyone and placed a medal of the saint of Calcutta around their necks as they spoke with them and encouraged them.

 

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will join dozens of religious leaders -- including Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury -- and hundreds of their faithful in Assisi Sept. 20 to pray for peace.

In addition to holding some private meetings with individual religious leaders, the pope will participate in the concluding ceremonies of a three-day event sponsored by the Rome-based Community of Sant'Egidio. With the theme, "Thirst for Peace: Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue," the meeting marks the 30th anniversary of St. John Paul II's Assisi interfaith peace gathering in 1986.

According to a schedule published Sept. 1 by the Vatican, the pope will be welcomed to Assisi by Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Welby, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of Antioch, and leaders of the Muslim, Jewish and Tendai Buddhist communities.

Several victims of war will join Pope Francis and the other religious leaders at a luncheon in the Franciscan friars' convent. In the afternoon, the pope will hold private meetings with many of the religious leaders, including Archbishop Welby and the patriarchs.

In the afternoon, members of different religions will move to different locations in Assisi to offer prayers for peace in their own traditions. Pope Francis will participate in the Christians' ecumenical prayer in the lower Basilica of St. Francis.

After their prayer services, the pope and religious leaders will meet in the square outside the basilica to listen to the testimony of a victim of war, to share their thoughts about peacemaking and to sign a common appeal.

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