Sonia Gandhi thanks Pope for Mother Teresa's canonisation

Expresses her inability to attend the mass because of ill-health

Indians, including the 20-million strong Catholic community of India, are immensely happy over the canonisation of Mother Teresa, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told Pope Francis.

The ceremony to canonise Mother Teresa will take place on September 4 at the St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City and is likely to be attended by thousands from across the world.

“Every citizen of India, including our nearly 20-million Catholics, takes immense pride and joy on the recognition by Your Holiness and the Catholic Church of Mother Teresa’s profound nobility of soul, purity of purpose, and service to God through service of humanity,” Sonia said in her letter to the Pope on Tuesday.

Thanking the Pope for the honour bestowed upon the well-known social worker, Sonia has deputed party veterans Margaret Alva and Louzinho Faleiro to represent the Congress at the canonisation ceremony at the Vatican City.

Noting Mother Teresa, “remains one of the most revered and admired figures in India, which gave her its highest award, the Bharat Ratna”, the Congress chief wrote she would have been present at the ceremony but for her ill health.

“If I had not been unwell, I too would have been there to witness the ceremony, and pay my humble homage to the woman who was the very embodiment of boundless compassion, mercy and grace,” Sonia said in the letter.

Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910 and died on September 5, 1997. She was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1980.

Apart from the Congress delegation, an official delegation led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent the Indian government. In addition, delegations led by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal have also been given political clearances by the Ministry of External Affairs to attend the canonization ceremony.