Mother Teresa of Calcutta, declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis today (September 7,2016), fast-tracked to canonization just 19 years after her death.

She was known as the "saint of the gutters" during her life, because of the care she provided to the poor and sick people she picked from the filthy and dirty streets of Calcutta (now called Kolkota). She worked among the poorest of the poor and sickest of the sick and became recognized as one of the most recognizable faces of charity in 20th century.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims packed St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for a service to honor the tiny nun. A Nobel peace laureate, her legacy complements Pope Francis's vision of a humble church that strives to serve the poor, and the festivities in her honor are a highlight of his Holy Year of Mercy, which runs until Nov. 8, 2016.

Standing under a canvas hung from St. Peter's Basilica showing the late nun in her blue-hemmed white robes, Pope Francis said she was a "dispenser of divine mercy" and held world powers to account "for the crimes of poverty they created".

Around 120,000 people attended the ceremony, according to Vatican estimates, celebrating the life of a woman who Pope Francis said it might be difficult to call "Saint" as people felt so close to her they spontaneously used "Mother". Late Pope John Paul II (now Saint Pope John Paul II), who met her often, had no doubt about her eligibility for sainthood, and put her on the route to canonization two years after her death instead of the usual five.

As pilgrims from across the world gathered at the Vatican along with delegations from more than a dozen governments, the canonization was also celebrated in Skopje, the capital of modern Macedonia where Mother Teresa was born of Albanian parents in 1910 and became a nun aged 16.

No major ceremony was scheduled in Kolkata, where the first MoC (Missionaries of Charity) mission was set up in 1952, but prayers, talks and cultural events were planned, in an atmosphere of quiet pride.

"We are blessed with this canonization because we know mother is in heaven and she will pray for us and she will bless us," said Sister Laisa, assistant superior general of the MoC.

Official banner of Mother Theresa's canonoization hangs on the facade of St. Peter's Basilica.

Pope Francis waving the pilgrims who attended the Canonization Ceremony today in the St. Peter's Square. Indian Flag is seen in the back ground.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims turned up in Vatican to attend the Canonization Ceremony.