Mother Teresa, revered for her work with the poor in India, has been proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican.

The Pope said St Teresa had defended the unborn, sick and abandoned, and had shamed world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they themselves created”.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims attended the canonisation in St Peter’s Square.

Two apparent cures of sick people after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997 have been attributed to her intercession.

In India, a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in Kolkata (Calcutta).

Cardinal Angelo Amato read a brief biography of Mother Teresa’s work, then asked the Pope to canonise her in the name of the Church.

Pope Francis responded: "We declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enrol her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church.”

Despite the intense heat, the atmosphere among the pilgrims in St Peter’s Square was one of joy, and the service a celebration of the life of this extraordinary woman.

Teresa was born an ethnic Albanian, and the Albanian flag was much in evidence, as was the distinctive white habit, trimmed with blue stripes, worn by the nuns of her order, the Missionaries of Charity.

Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters attended the event, along with 13 heads of state or government. 

Agencies