Vatican City, Dec 13, 2018 / 05:39 am
The Vatican announced Thursday that Pope Francis will travel to Bulgaria and Macedonia May 5-7, 2019, with a stop in Mother Teresa's hometown of Skopje.
The pope will spend the bulk of the trip in the Bulgarian cities of Sofia and Rakovski before visiting Skopje, Macedonia, the birthplace of Mother Teresa, on May 7.
While Mother Teresa is commonly associated with Calcutta, India -- the city included in her heavenly title of Saint Teresa of Calcutta -- she spent the first 17 years of her life as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia before receiving her call to a vocation as a missionary sister in 1928.
The Mother Teresa Memorial House in Skopje, the saint's former home-turned-museum, has welcomed visitors who desired to learn about St. Teresa and venerate one of her relics since 2009.