The recognition yesterday of the miracle performed in Calcutta in 1998, clears the way for beatification next year. That is the first stage on the road to sainthood, although recognition of a second miracle is usually needed for the process to be completed.
The speed with which the Vatican has vaulted over its own bureaucratic hurdles means the revered nun could become the fastest canonised saint in modern times.
The Pope opened the way for her canonisation by waiving the five-year waiting period after death normally observed before starting the process.
Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the priest in charge of promoting her candidature, said the cured woman was an Indian animist, 30, who had been taken to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity order with an abdominal tumour. It disappeared after a "miraculous medal", worn by Mother Teresa, was placed on her abdomen.
The Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints started the saint-making process last week by recognising the "heroic virtues" shown by the nun in a lifetime dedicated to the care of society's outcasts.
Mother Teresa was born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, in modern-day Macedonia, in 1910. She became a nun in Ireland aged 18 but found her true vocation in India, caring for the needs of Calcutta's destitute.
She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1979. When she died five years ago, aged 87, a million people attended her funeral.
