VATICAN CITY, Sept 24: Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to helping the poorest of the poor, cleared the first hurdle to sainthood on Tuesday when the Vatican formally declared her to possess “heroic virtues”.

The declaration means the diminutive Albanian-born woman could be beatified, the step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, as early as next year.

A Vatican committee will now meet on Oct 1 to formally confirm a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, who died in 1997. Advocates for her beatification say a woman suffering from a tumour was inexplicably cured after praying to the nun.

If the Vatican commission recognizes the miracle, a ceremony to beatify her could be held next year, Vatican sources said.—Reuters