VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, paving the way for her canonisation, according to Vatican officials.

  The miracle was regarding the healing of a 35 year old man in Brazil in 2008, who was in a coma with brain abscesses, after his wife prayed for Mother Teresa to intervene.

  The approval of the miracle was the final step for Mother Teresa to be declared a saint, following her beatification in 2003.

  The proclamation of her sainthood will take place on September 4 2016, and will be a key event in the Holy Jubilee Year of Mercy. 

  Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in 1910 and died in Calcutta in 1997. She was the founder of the religious congregation of the Missionaries of Charity and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

 Two years after her death, there was a special dispensation from Pope John Paul II, who opened up the beatification process. The procedure ended in the summer of 2003 and the proclamation took place on October 19 of that year.

  jp-is