KEVIN RUDD made a surprise visit yesterday to the memorial chapel dedicated to Blessed Mary MacKillop, whose sainthood may be imminent. The Prime Minister, a practising Anglican, attended Mass at the Catholic chapel in North Sydney where Blessed Mary is interred.
Vatican sources are reported to have suggested she might be Australia's first saint by Christmas. Mr Rudd visited the Pope in Rome in July and they reportedly discussed Blessed Mary.
A spokesman for Mr Rudd would not say if his chapel visit had anything to do with reports that Blessed Mary's second miracle, needed for her canonisation, had been decreed.
''He certainly did go to church in North Sydney,'' the spokesman said. ''It was a private visit.
''He attended a service. The Prime Minister attends church regularly on Sundays and he was in Sydney this morning.''
Blessed Mary's second miracle has yet to be officially decreed, but it has been reported that Australia could expect the next milestone towards her sainthood by Christmas.
A spokeswoman for the Sisters of St Joseph, the congregation founded by Mary MacKillop, said excitement and expectations were running high in Rome and in Australia.
''The sisters are very excited, they're waiting on an announcement some time, hopefully, before Christmas.''
For a person to be canonised, or declared a saint by the Pope, the Vatican must decree he or she was responsible for two miracles.
Pope John Paul II beatified Mary Mackillop in 1995, which means the Vatican had verified her first miracle - healing a woman with terminal leukaemia.
A second miracle is being investigated by the Vatican and the Sisters of St Joseph expect it will be decreed by Pope Benedict XVI.
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