Australia denies pressuring Vatican over sainthood

Australia denied it was interfering in Vatican affairs by lobbying Pope Benedict XVI to declare a nun who died 100 years ago the country's first saint.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will meet the Pontiff next week while he is in Italy for an economic meeting and has said he will encourage the Catholic leader to have nun Mary MacKillop canonised.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said it was appropriate for Rudd, an Anglican, to express the hopes of Australia's Catholics regarding MacKillop and denied the prime minister was "dabbling" in Vatican matters.

"He's neither dabbling nor interfering," Smith told Channel Nine.

"It's entirely appropriate for the prime minister to relay the views of the Australian community and the Australian Catholic community about such a matter.

"It would be a very good thing for Australia if in the event Mary MacKillop became a saint."

The nun's case for sainthood is now with officials in Rome, who are trying to determine whether a second miracle medical cure, unexplained by science, can be attributed to her.

MacKillop was born in the southern state of Victoria in 1842 before founding the Sisters of St Joseph in 1866, which opened schools and charitable institutions.

She died in Sydney in 1909 and local Catholics have been campaigning for her to be canonised as Australia's first saint after she was beatified -- the first step to canonisation -- by Pope John Paul II in January 1995.

The current Pope praised her last year while visiting Australia for World Youth Day.

"I know that her perseverance in the face of adversity, her plea for justice on behalf of those unfairly treated and her practical example of holiness have become a source of inspiration for all Australians," he said.