Cardinal Angelo Sodano

Extracts from his funeral address:

The hour has arrived for us to say a final farewell to the late Mother Teresa. We have come here from many corners of the world to demonstrate our affection and gratitude and render a fitting homage. From the cold bier, the unforgettable, dear Mother Teresa continues to speak to us and seems to repeat the Lord’s words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

At the close of a century which has known terrible extremes of darkness, the light of conscience has not been altogether extinguished. Holiness, goodness, kindness, love are still recognised when they appear on history’s stage. The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has given voice to what so many people of every condition have seen in this woman of unshakeable faith: her extraordinary spiritual vision, her attentive and self-sacrificing love of God in each person she met, her absolute respect for the value of every human life and her courage in facing so many challenges. His Holiness, who knew Mother Teresa so well, wishes this funeral ceremony to be a great prayer of gratitude to God for having given her to the Church and to the world….

Dear Mother Teresa, the entire Church thanks you for your luminous example and promises to make it our heritage. Today, on behalf of Pope John Paul II, who sent me here, I offer you a final earthly farewell and, in his name, I thank you for all that you have done for the poor of the world. They are favourites of Jesus. They are also favourites of our Holy Father, His Vicar on earth. It is in his name that I place on your coffin the flower of our deepest gratitude.

Dear Mother Teresa, rest in peace.