Mother Teresa a saint?

It requires one 'miracle' for beatification and two for canonization I think.
MT was beatified several years ago and they have presumably been searching for another 'miracle' since then.

However, being made a canon of the cathedral does not involve 'being canonized'!
Confusing.

anniebach ditto re St Francis and St Christopher

I am just wondering if it affected the sales of all those St Christopher medallions worn by apprehensive travellers.
Every action has an opposite and equal reaction.

I'm not a believer, and was not brought up a Catholic, so I might have this wrong, but my understanding is that canonisation is not like a religious Oscar for good works.

Canonisation a belief that God singled out this individual for special Godly-doings and had a hotline to God in order to do this work, to which they responded. That's where the miracles come in - without the hotline, miracles would not occur.

So no one is 'elevated' to sainthood - they were a saint all along, and the Church just reveals the truth of it.

Some people may do wondrous works, but they are 'Blessed' rather than actually canonised.

Catholics and ex-Catholics, feel free to correct me.

As for Hitchins, he was an excellent writer, thinker and debunker. He softened a wee bit as he got closer to death, acknowledging that many of the people who said they'd be praying for him were wasting their time, but meant well.

On the matter of infallibility only popes are empowered with it and from what I recall being taught they make dogmatic pronouncements ex cathedra (from a particular chair). I presume this still prevails.

I was fortunate having parents who were both Christians but encouraged me to question from a young age. A child's view of nuns who are teachers are no different to views of children who attended not faith school . I think nuns are judged unfairly, no use comparing how people acted over fifty years ago with now

TerriBull, that could have been my post.

Meant St Christopher

St Francis was denoted but not de sanctified

Ditto for me TerriBull it's amazing how little was allowed by way of discussion back then.

Anya - your words resonate with me and ditto, I was brought up a RC, went to a strict convent, not a boarding school, but nevertheless taught by nuns, who even then struck me, bar one, as pretty uncharitable people who didn't embody the spirit of Christianity at all. I have read about Mother Teresa, and some of her very questionable practices, but to be fair we didn't know about all of that then. I'm sure that the nature of the RC religion has changed somewhat given all the scandals uncovered, but at the time I was at school you were expected not to question anything. Reading about the Spanish Inquisition, the Borgias in my teens and then later on coming to terms with the the corrupt nature of the inner workings of the church was my undoing. Although I still consider myself a believer of sorts, once a Catholic some of it stays with you.

Being brought up a strict Catholic 50 or so years ago, is something you would have had to live to understand how it was for many of us, a blind faith was expected, no discussion, no dissent whatsoever. We probably could have done with Richard Dawkins back then. I think those who don't have a religion imposed upon them but hold their religious beliefs having made an "informed choice" possibly their perspective is somewhat different.

Sorry, not St Francis, it was St Christopher - on the grounds that he may not have actually existed, which seems a fair enough reason!

abcnews.go.com/International/saint-saint-kind-demoted/story?id=23477573

I am not sure about any saints being de-canonized but I'm sure some have been 'demoted'.
Wasn't St Francis of Assisi demoted? Could be wrong.

Being brought up a RC and being educated in a boarding school by nuns I was taught that, yes, the pope is infallible in 'matters of faith and doctrine' . And I was led to believe that everyone who has entered heaven is a saint- but sainthood has to be proved, by miracles. There were also steps on the way to sainthood - one such was to be proclaimed 'blesséd' eg The Blesséd Teresa.

All I can say is and I'm sorry if that offends. I admire those who life their life according to a religious belief, unless that belief includes hatred of other religions or non- religions, in which case I'd say that religion is the cause of many of the ills that beset the world.

Yes I know the pope is considered infallible. The wife of a former bishop here wrote a book about saints and I think I read in her book that saints were also considered infallible

Yes granjura i am aware of the influence and power of the RC church in parts of the word, my words were addressed to posters who were speaking of their views of faith and non belief in saints, I have close friends who are RC and it matters to them

Quoting Annie: If your not a R C why does it matter?

Well yes perhaps in the UK where the Roman Catholic Church has little power and is very much a minority. But don't forget that in huge areas of the world, including very poor 3rd world areas- there is no alternative to RC and it still has massive power and influence on the people.

I think the Pope is considered infallible in matters of faith and doctrine - but that only became formalised in 1870. Several saints have been removed from the calendar for being mythical eg St George. I must admit I find the whole concept of declaring people to be saints rather odd. But then I'm not a Catholic.

The pope is the infallible one but I'll google it to see if saints can be decanonised.

I think , almost sure , a Saint is infallible so couldn't be de whatever

Does anyone know if any 'Saint' has even been 'de sanctified' if there is such a word? I mean in the same way people have been stripped of a knighthood, for example, when their evil was discovered posthumously.

The Popes didn't charge around the world opening shelters for dying children Many who died from poverty

Mind you, Luckygirl so did all the Popes, and after all, she was a Catholic.

Well said Luckygirl

There are many thousands of people living in extreme poverty around the world whose problems can be directly attributed to her campaigns on birth control. She saw contraception as one of the main evils in the world and flew around the world saying so to impoverished uneducated people. Wicked indeed.

Having said that, I think the case for MT is as good if not better than any other people who have been canonised.