The canonisation of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta will be hailed far and wide by those within and without the Church. She was the most famous, and most admired, Christian of the 20th century, even including the popes, whose office gives them a certain ubiquity. Her name became shorthand for sacrificial charity. Perhaps most remarkable of all, she remained virtually unique in achieving universal acclaim despite refusing to bow before the regnant culture.

There has been a deal on the table for several decades now for religious leaders. If they are willing to make their peace with the sexual revolution – divorce, contraception, abortion, cohabitation, artificial reproduction, same-sex marriage – then they will be celebrated, all the more so if they are simultaneously willing to adopt a progressive cause or two, the environment being the favoured one.