MADRAS, India -- In a time of harrowing sectarian strife, the Vatican has shown that there is an ocean of compassion and tolerance in the highest form of faith.
Pope John Paul II recently announced that Mother Teresa would be beatified in a ceremony in Rome on Oct. 19. Although a miracle was credited to her intercession, her lifetime work had more to do with humanity than Christianity.
Admittedly, the miracle involved an element of Christian belief: a young Indian woman, Monica Besra, was miraculously cured of her stomach tumor when an image of Mother Teresa was placed on her abdomen. A team of doctors consulted by the Vatican ruled that there was no medical or scientific explanation for the woman's recovery.