No miracle reported yet to push mother Teresa to sainthood: prelate

Even though the world eagerly awaits the elevation of mother Teresa to sainthood as she approaches 100 on Thursday, this may not be possible soon as the Church is still looking for an 'acceptable' miracle attributed to her, a prelate has said.

"We are receiving reports from all over the world of favours granted by mother. Miracle has certain characteristics. Favours reported do not fit into the characteristics," Bishop Salvadore Lobo of Baruipur said.

After Teresa's death on September 5, 2007, Pope John Paul-II put her on the fast-track to sainthood, concluding her beatification on October 19, 2003, on the basis of claims of a tribal woman in Raiganj that she had been cured of stomach tumour by praying to her.

Church Law requires another miracle of a medical nature attributable to her before she can be canonised (declared saint).

On the 10th anniversary of Teresa's death in 2007, a Catholic priest from Guwahati claimed to have been cured of kidney stone after praying to Teresa.

"This claim was rejected by the Church authorities," Lobo, who headed the Diocesan Enquiry Team looking into the life and virtues of Teresa for her beatification, said.

Noting that the Diocesan Enquiry Team has been folded up after Teresa's beatification, he said a fresh enquiry team will have to be formed once the report of an 'acceptable' miracle was received.

The new team will have to be formed in the country where the fresh miracle is reported.