Pope Francis To Canonize Mother Teresa Next Year
CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- A local man's life changed after coming face-to-face with Mother Teresa, who will now soon be canonized.
Mother Teresa cared for the sick and poor in India, but she visited our area on her path to sainthood, which was officially approved today.
Pope Francis approved a second miracle, saying a Brazilian man was cured of brain tumors after loved ones prayed to Mother Teresa.
Her first miracle , a woman who said her stomach tumor disappeared.
Two miracles must be proven in order to be nominated for canonization.
To be close to a saint, to be touched by a saint, is something rare.
It's something so special, that when it happens, it is something you never forget.
Mother Teresa came to our area in 1995.
Her visit that summer was an event one man will says he will never forget.
"Well, it was a thrill in a sense," Frank Pileggi told Eyewitness News.
Pileggi, a Saint Katharine Drexel parishioner, was part of the Mother Teresa Welcoming Committee and got a few precious moments face-to-face with her.
"She just beamed with happiness and that's what I remember and I think she had a little bit of humor too, when we spoke to her. So it was a happy experience which is an understatement," Pileggi recalled.
In 1995, Mother Teresa made several stops in the Philadelphia region, drawing thousands at each parish visit.
Many of them still feel connected to Mother Teresa and are ecstatic at the news she will likely be canonized after the Vatican attributed her with a second miracle.
"Although it's not a rubber stamp formality, it really was one of the easiest decisions Pope Francis has had," Father Thomas Whittingham of St. Katharine Drexel Parish explained.
While more than two decades have passed since Mother Teresa's Chester visit, her spirit remains and so do the nuns from her order.
While they don't like being in the spotlight, sisters from the Missionaries of Charity Convent are still very active in helping the poor.
But Mother Teresa taught all are valuable in God's eyes and St. Katharine's is inviting visitors to share in the joy her future sainthood at Christmas and Christmas Eve services.
