Vatican press conference on Mother Teresa Canonization

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Holy See’s Press office, Greg Burke said it would be impossible to predict how many people will attend Sunday’s Canonization Mass for Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Speaking at a Vatican press conference giving details about the highly-anticipated event, Burke said all 100,000 tickets had been distributed for the Mass but that the crowd would likely be far greater, spilling into the streets around St. Peter’s Square.

Listen to this report by Susy Hodges: 

Some 600 journalists from all over the world have flocked to Rome to cover Mother Teresa’s Canonization Mass which is being seen by many as the highlight of this Jubilee Year of Mercy. More than a dozen heads of state or government will be among the many dignitaries attending the Mass. 

Among those speaking at the packed press conference on Friday morning was Sister Mary Prema Pierick, the Superior General of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Order, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for her sainthood cause and the Brazilian man, Marcilio Haddad Andrino, who was declared miraculously healed through Mother Teresa’s intercession.

Andrino described how he was suffering from a viral brain infection and the doctors had lost all hope of saving his life when his wife Fernanda prayed to Mother Teresa and immediately afterwards he found himself miraculously healed from the illness. He expressed gratitude for his recovery but said he is just one example of God’s ample mercy and love and stressed he "did not feel special." Within a year, his wife became pregnant and they were able to have two children even though Andrino had been told that the powerful drugs he had taken had made him infertile. He called his two children “the extension of that miracle.”

Turning to the technical side of the Canonization Mass, Burke told journalists that the event will be filmed using 4K Ultra High Definition and using nine television cameras. He said the Canonization can also be seen on the Vatican’s YouTube platform, on the Vatican player of Vatican Radio and on the website of the Vatican Television Service (CTV).