Sydney:
An Australian nun who died 100 years ago is on the way to becoming the nation's first saint, after Pope Benedict XVI confirmed she miraculously cured a woman of cancer, Catholic officials said on Sunday.
The confirmation of the miracle, in which a woman who prayed to Mary MacKillop was cured of inoperable lung cancer in the 1990s, opens the way for the final decision to be made to canonise the beatified Australian.
"Today is a special day not only for the Sisters but also for Australia and the universal Church," said Anne Derwin, a nun with the Sisters of St Joseph order founded by MacKillop.
"It is a day to acknowledge Mary who is not only truly saintly but also one of Australia's true heroes."
Melbourne-born MacKillop has already passed the first stages to sainthood by being beatified by the previous Pope John Paul II in 1995 after having another miracle attributed to her.
In that case, the Vatican confirmed that prayers to MacKillop had healed a woman with terminal leukaemia, a recovery which could not be explained by science.
MacKillop co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866 and established schools and charitable institutions uniquely devised to meet the difficulties of the fledging Australian colonies.
The confirmation of the miracle, in which a woman who prayed to Mary MacKillop was cured of inoperable lung cancer in the 1990s, opens the way for the final decision to be made to canonise the beatified Australian.
"Today is a special day not only for the Sisters but also for Australia and the universal Church," said Anne Derwin, a nun with the Sisters of St Joseph order founded by MacKillop.
"It is a day to acknowledge Mary who is not only truly saintly but also one of Australia's true heroes."
Melbourne-born MacKillop has already passed the first stages to sainthood by being beatified by the previous Pope John Paul II in 1995 after having another miracle attributed to her.
In that case, the Vatican confirmed that prayers to MacKillop had healed a woman with terminal leukaemia, a recovery which could not be explained by science.
MacKillop co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866 and established schools and charitable institutions uniquely devised to meet the difficulties of the fledging Australian colonies.
