Lincoln as secular saint

[Juan Marrero]

Mother Teresa is now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Beatification is the stage before canonization. Many blesseds don't make it all the way to saint. It's like being vice-president, I guess.

As the article suggests, she may be canonized in 2016 but the process can easily get gummed up. Any purported miracle must vetted by doctors, reviewed by a group of Cardinals who then send it to the Pope for his final say, then a date is set for the ceremony.

M. Teresa is widely respected and admired, but she does have her critics inside and outside the Church. Personally, I wish that her order, the Missionaries of Charity, made life a little softer for the nuns who join. Poverty is one thing, but complete self-denial another. Such a life apparently can lead some to holiness and others to chronic irritation!