Mary MacKillop Canonized [First Australian Saint: 2nd Miracle-Woman with Leukaemia Cured]

Telegraph(Australia) ^ | December 18th 2009

[Steelfish]

MARY MacKillop has become Australia's first saint, after Pope Benedict XVI approved her canonisation on Saturday.

The Vatican made the announcement around midnight (AEST) on Saturday.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints - a secretive body of cardinals, considered Mother Mary's sainthood before making a recommendation to the Pope.

Australian Ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer said on Saturday that Sister Maria Casey, who has been campaigning for Mother Mary's canonisation, said Pope Benedict XVI had "confirmed that the cure of a lady from inoperable lung cancer is a true miracle''.

Before someone can be canonised, the Catholic church has to recognise that they performed two miracles.

The Vatican confirmed Mother Mary's first miracle in 1971, saying it was believed she had cured a woman of leukaemia in the 1950s.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

While the Vatican remains secretive about the details of miracles to, in part, protect the healed, it is believed the second miracle needed for beatification involved the healing of a woman with leukaemia.

If the Pope announces confirmation of Mother Mary's second miracle, he will pave the way for her canonisation in 2010 in St Peter's Basilica.

Mother Mary, who died in 1909, is well known for her disputes with some church authorities over the Sisters of St Joseph she established in order to focus on educational work.