VATICAN CITY, Oct 19: An ailing Pope John Paul beatified Mother Teresa before a crowd of 300,000 on Sunday, calling her an icon of charity and launching her on the fast track to sainthood.

The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony in St Peter’s square was a multi-coloured, multi-lingual service that reflected Mother Teresa’s global appeal.

There were Indian girls dancing with incense and flowers, hundreds of Mother Teresa’s nuns dressed in white and blue saris, cardinals in red silk, presidents in blue suits and Rome’s homeless wearing hand-outs from shelters.

But it was a test for the dwindling stamina of the 83-year-old pope, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He can no longer walk and his speech is often slurred and gasping.

On the altar before Christendom’s largest church, the pope managed to read the formula of beatification with difficulty in Latin. But aides had to read out his sermon for him in English and Italian to help him conserve his strength..—Reuters