Sainthood awaits the little nun

It was appropriate that at the beatification ceremony of Mother Teresa yesterday a place of honour was reserved for about 2,000 of the poor who sleep and eat in shelters run by her followers, including one inside the Vatican’s walls.

In the eyes of her multitude of admirers the world over, from kings to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa of Calcutta is already a saint. In instigating the path to her eventual formal canonisation, Pope John Paul II has espoused a popular cause.

Despite her critics who accused her of associating with dictators, the rest of the world revered her for the heroic work she and her nuns undertook wherever they were needed.