Santa Madre Teresa de Calcutta: Missionaries of Charity thank Pope Francis

A group of missionaries of charity was able to greet Pope Francis yesterday after the general audience in the Vatican and transmit his enthusiasm and thanks for having included its founder, Santa Madre Teresa de Calcutta, in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church.

From now on, the memory of Santa Teresa de Calcuta It will appear every September 5, the day of his death in 1997, in the calendars and liturgical texts of the Church, with specific prayers and readings that will be used at the Mass and in the liturgy of the hours.

The commemorations occupy third place in the classification of holidays of the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church and that of Santa Teresa de Calcutta will be a free commemoration, that is, that its celebration is voluntary.

The decision of the Holy Father was welcomed with great jubilation from the congregation. The general superior, sister Mary Joseph, traveled to Rome with 35 sisters from the five continents.

“The heart of Mother Teresa of Calcutta continues to beating strongly in the lives of all of us and urges us, in this jubilee of hope, not to give up and follow Jesus,” Sister Joseph said in statements collected by Vatican News.

At the end of the General Hearing in the Classroom Paul VI, Pope Francis greeted this group of missionaries, dressed in his famous white and blue Saris. The Superior General asked the Pontiff to bless his work, “who addresses the most humble” and also sends “a message of renewal to all so that we return to the roots of the Gospel, letting us guide for their teachings,” he said.

He also wanted to highlight that, in a world that seeks the technological process, “we must never forget that true human progress is to devote itself to others every day, with all your heart.”

Sister Mary Joseph then cited the recent encyclical Loves uswith which Pope Francis “urges us to rediscover the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to welcome the love of Christ, which is the love that each of us must reserve the humble, the sick, the defenseless, as we Mother Teresa taught. ”

In it decreepublished on February 12 and approved by Pope Francis on December 24, Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicasterio for the Divine Cult and the Discipline of the Sacraments, remember that, “living radically and proclaiming with boldness the Gospel, Santa Teresa Calcuta is a testimony of the dignity and privilege of humble service. ”

“Choosing not only the smallest, but the servant of the little ones, she became a model of mercy and authentic icon of the good Samaritan,” he said.