Mother Teresa turns 86 but still in danger .  Rupam Banerjee  CALCUTTA 1996-08-27  Mother Teresa spent her 86th birthday in a Calcutta hospital bed on Tuesday as tributes to the legendary missionary poured in from around the world .  Doctors said that later in the day they would try to wean the Nobel Peace Prize laureate from the respirator that has aided her breathing for the past six days .  " Her condition seems to be better , but the danger remains as long as she is on respirator , " an official at Woodlands Nursing Home said . "  She is conscious but her breathing is irregular . "  The revered [START_ENT] Roman Catholic [END_ENT] nun was admitted to the Calcutta hospital a week ago with high fever and severe vomiting .  She later suffered heart failure and was diagnosed with malaria .  Her fever has since abated and the heart failure has been brought under control , but her heart continues to beat irregularly , doctors said .  " Unless she breathes on her own , I would advise you to keep your fingers crossed , " said a doctor who was familiar with her case but not part of the six-member team treating Mother Teresa .  The nun 's birthday prompted greetings , bouquets and prayers from around the world .  Pope John Paul II and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy sent her get-well messages , the Press Trust of India said .  " Ask for a miracle .  Happy Birthday to our Dearest Mother , " read a placard at the Shishu Bhavan children 's home in central Calcutta run by Mother Teresa 's Missionaries of Charity .  On Monday , both houses of India 's parliament wished the nation 's adopted sister a happy birthday and speedy recovery from her illness .  Prayers continued in Calcutta , one of the world 's poorest cities , where Mother Teresa 's Missionaries of Charity runs several homes for the poor and destitute .  Street children , some of them born to prostitutes , held prayers on the street . "  All of us know about her .  She is like a goddess , " said Raju , 8 , who has a mother but no father .  The Statesman newspaper quoted 40-year-old Mangala Das , paralysed from her waist down and a resident of the Prem Dan ( Gift of Love ) home for the destitute , as saying she and her friends had been praying incessantly for Mother Teresa 's recovery .  Tarak Das , 70 , was picked up from a Calcutta footpath a week ago by passers-by who took pity on him and brought him to Nirmal Hriday ( Immaculate Home ) .  " I do not know who she is .  I have never seen her , but I can only bless her for what she has done for people like me , " Das told The Statesman .  Mother Teresa 's condition improved on Sunday as her fever abated , and on Monday she was able to scribble notes to doctors and nuns .  Thousands in Calcutta , where she founded her Missionaries of Charity religious order in 1949 , prayed for her recovery .  Ministers of the communist government of West Bengal state and people of different religions joined Catholics to pray for Mother Teresa 's recovery at Mother House .  " We joined the prayer to express our solidarity with her work for the cause of the poor and downtrodden , " said Nanda Gopal Bhattacharya , a communist minister in West Bengal .
Catholic Church