This Sunday, Pope Francis declared Mother Theresa to be an official saint in the capital church. Mother Theresa, born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, is known for her charitable acts towards the poor, downtrodden people of the streets of India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, and won the Noble Peace Prize in 1979 for all of her good works. Mother Theresa died in 1997 of heart failure. Pope Francis praised Mother Theresa for taking in all of the outcasts she came across, presenting her as the perfect role model for Catholics around the world.
Pope Francis making Mother Theresa a saint after all this time confuses me a little bit. I understand that the very generous and good deeds she did in her life got her the sainthood, but the amount of time it took I don't understand. Mother Theresa died in 1997, 19 years ago. In fact, there are many many people who have been sainted decades after their death, including Pope John XXIII, and Elizabeth Hesselblad. Is there some kind of waiting list for sainthood?
Source:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/09/04/thousands-gather-for-canonization-mother-teresa.html
I think that the amount of time canonization takes is due to the lengthy process of review and ceremony that is required before a person can be canonized in the Catholic Church. It seems obvious for people like Mother Teresa to be canonized, so it is a natural question to ask why it would take so long, but there is a lot of work that must go into naming a saint, otherwise anyone could be one.
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