Mother Teresa Reelected by Order

CALCUTTA — Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, who five months ago announced her retirement because of ill health, was reelected Saturday as head of the Missionaries of Charity order she founded in 1950, a church official said.

The results of the election suggested that the 80-year-old Roman Catholic nun has decided to continue to work among the impoverished people of the teeming Indian metropolis of Calcutta, ignoring medical advice to curtail her activities.

Sisters of the organization greeted her reelection by holding a special prayer to mark the occasion. “We are exceedingly happy because of the mother’s reelection. She is our mother, and we are her children,” one sister said.

Vicar-General Francis Gomes, a representative of the Archbishop of Calcutta, said that Mother Teresa was reelected in a secret ballot by 103 delegates representing 3,046 Missionaries of Charity nuns from around the world.