Vatican City: Mother Teresa, whose charitable work in India drew admiration from millions world wide, may move a step closer to sainthood after a Vatican meeting in Vatican City on September 24.

Supporters, of the founder of the India-based Missionaries of Charity born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Skopje, now in Macedonia, to Albanian parents, hope she will be sainted with record speed by the end of the year 2002.

The church's congregation for the causes of saints will pronounce its verdict on Mother Teresa's 'heroic virtues' on September 24. This is the first step towards beatification, which precedes sainthood.

A week later, on October 1, the congregation's cardinals and bishops will meet again to recognise the miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, the healing of a woman's abdominal tumor.

Pope John Paul II, upon return on September 30 from a three-month stay at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo, outside Rome, may attend the second meeting.

The presence of the Pontiff, a great admirer of Mother Teresa's charitable order, could speed things up with possible announcements of decrees validating the nun's 'heroic acts', or her miracle, or both.