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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Pope to canonise first Australian | Pope to canonise first Australian |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Australia is to get its first saint, Mother Mary MacKillop, a Melbourne-born nun who worked with needy children, Pope Benedict has announced. | Australia is to get its first saint, Mother Mary MacKillop, a Melbourne-born nun who worked with needy children, Pope Benedict has announced. |
| The Vatican said MacKillop, who died in 1909, would be canonised on 17 October. | The Vatican said MacKillop, who died in 1909, would be canonised on 17 October. |
| Her work for the Church was sometimes controversial - and in 1871 she was excommunicated for insubordination. | Her work for the Church was sometimes controversial - and in 1871 she was excommunicated for insubordination. |
| The Church exonerated her three years later and she was eventually put on the road to sainthood by Pope John Paul II, who beatified her in 1995. | The Church exonerated her three years later and she was eventually put on the road to sainthood by Pope John Paul II, who beatified her in 1995. |
| For anyone to become a saint, the Church has to officially recognise them as having carried out two miracles. | For anyone to become a saint, the Church has to officially recognise them as having carried out two miracles. |
| Pope John Paul II recognised the first, and last year Pope Benedict credited her with curing a person of cancer. | Pope John Paul II recognised the first, and last year Pope Benedict credited her with curing a person of cancer. |
| 'I believe in miracles' | |
| Australia's ABC News reported that the woman said to have been cured came forward last month to give her account of the apparent miracle. | |
| This is a great honour for Australia Kevin RuddPrime Minister | |
| ABC named her as Kathleen Evans and quoted her as saying she had been cured of inoperable cancers in her lungs and brain after praying to MacKillop. | |
| "There were quite a few [doctors] that examined me, but I didn't have any treatment so there was no explanation there," ABC quoted her as saying. | |
| "I do believe in miracles." | |
| Mackillop was a passionate believer in education and along with her order, the Sisters of St Joseph, founded dozens of schools. | |
| She is reputed to have started her first school in a disused stable, and established an order of nuns at the age of 24. | |
| Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hailed the Vatican's decision. | |
| "This is a great, great tribute to the Catholic Church and a great, great tribute to her hard work in education," he said. | |
| "This is a great honour for Australia." | |
| Sister Sheila McCreanor, a nun in her order, told the Australian newspaper before the Pope's announcement that the nuns were "very excited". | |
| "About four of us are huddled here in the lounge room drinking tea and waiting up to get the confirmation from Rome," she said. | |
| During a visit to Australia in 2008, Pope Benedict described her as "one of the most outstanding figures in Australia's history". |