It seems like Pope Francis is a big Rita Ora fan. Last week, Ora revealed to Jimmy Fallon that she had been invited to sing in Vatican City. And on Saturday, the British singer and actress performed “What Child Is This?” with the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra for Francis and a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
The occasion was a vigil ahead of the official canonization of Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun known as the “saint of the gutters” for her work in the Indian city now known as Kolkata. Tens of thousands of Catholics gathered near the Vatican to celebrate their newest saint, only 19 years after her death.
Let us imitate Mother Teresa who made works of mercy the guide of her life and the path towards holiness.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 3, 2016
“Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,” Francis said. “She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.”
The Pope went on to say that for Teresa, “Mercy was the salt which gave flavor to her work, it was the light which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering.”
Prayers were delivered in a variety of languages, including Albanian, Bengali, and Chinese.
Watch Ora host the “Hymn to Mother Teresa” with Albanian professional soccer player Lorik Cana below.
