Mother Teresa to be made a saint on 4 September, Pope Francis confirms

The announcement was made at a meeting of cardinals for several sainthood causes

The Albanian missionary was one of five candidates for sainthood (Reuters)

Mother Teresa will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at a ceremony on 4 September, Pope Francis has announced.

The date of her canonisation falls on the eve of the 19^th anniversary of her death.

The first step towards Mother Teresa’s sainthood was made in 2003, when 300,000 pilgrims went to Rome for her beatification. And in December, the path was finally cleared for the nun to be sainted after Pope Francis approved her second miracle which involved healing people.

Of the five candidates considered by the Vatican for sainthood, Mother Teresa was the most well-known.

Born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the Roman Catholic nun dedicated her life to helping the poor. She died in 1997 at the age of 87.

In the 1950s, she and other nuns set up the Missionaries of Charity, which helped the people who lived in the slums of Calcutta. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel peace prize for her work in 1979.

It is unclear whether the ceremony will take place in Calcutta, India, or at the Vatican in Rome.

People are made into saints if the Roman Catholic Church believes they were holy enough during their life to now be in Heaven and can intercede with God to perform miracles.

Reuters