Public image of Mother Teresa: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description| |
{{Short description|Views about Mother Teresa's charity work}}[[File:Mutter Teresa von Kalkutta.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Mother Teresa]] in 1985]] |
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[[Catholic nun]] and [[missionary]] Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, commonly known as [[Mother Teresa]] and known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta since 2016, has a complicated public image. She has been widely admired by many for her charitable work, which led to her being awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace".<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Committee: The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 press release |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623181949/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html |archive-date=23 June 2017 |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> During her life she was highly celebrated, receiving multiple awards and [[Honorary degree|honorary degrees]], as well as consistently ranking as one of the world's most admired people. She is also [[Veneration|venerated]] by many Catholics who consider her a saint and ask for her [[Intercession of saints|intercession]]. |
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The work of [[Catholic nun]] and [[missionary]] [[Mother Teresa|Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu]], commonly known as [[Mother Teresa]] and known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta since 2016, has been subject to criticism. Her practices, and those of the [[Missionaries of Charity]], the order which she founded, were subjected to numerous controversies. These controversies include objections to the quality of the medical care which they provided, suggestions that some deathbed baptisms constituted [[forced conversion]]s, and alleged links to [[colonialism]] and [[racism]] and alleged relationships with questionable public figures. |
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She has also been subject to criticism, including objections to the quality of the medical care which she provided, suggestions that some deathbed baptisms constituted [[forced conversion]]s, and alleged links to [[colonialism]] and [[racism]] and alleged relationships with questionable public figures. |
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These criticisms have been rebutted by some commentators, with a notable theme being the claim that critics do not understand her motivations and that she is being unfairly held to Western standards. |
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These criticisms have been rebutted by some commentators, with a notable theme being the claim that critics do not understand her motivations and that she is being unfairly held to Western standards.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> |
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==Chatterjee, Hitchens, and Ali== |
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Indian author and physician [[Aroup Chatterjee]], who briefly worked in one of Mother Teresa's homes, investigated the financial practices and other practices of Teresa's order. In 1994, two British journalists, [[Christopher Hitchens]] and [[Tariq Ali]], produced a critical British [[Channel 4]] documentary, ''[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|Hell's Angel]]'', based on Chatterjee's work. The next year, Hitchens published ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice]]'', a book that repeated many of the accusations in the documentary. Chatterjee published ''The Final Verdict'' in 2003, a less polemical work than those of Hitchens and Ali, but equally critical of Teresa's operations.<ref name=Dutta>{{cite news |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=176802§ioncode=40 |title=Saint of the gutters with friends in high places |author-last=Dutta |author-first=Krishna |date=16 May 2003 |work=[[Times Higher Education]] |access-date=4 March 2011 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921070735/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=176802§ioncode=40 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2003, after Teresa was [[Beatification|beatified]] by John Paul II, Hitchens continued his criticism, calling her "a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud." He further criticised the Catholic Church for attributing the recovery of a patient to a [[miracle]], and for ignoring the testimony of the patient's doctor, who attributed the recovery of his patient to modern medicine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html|title=Mommie Dearest|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|author-link=Christopher Hitchens|publisher=Slate|date=2003-10-20|access-date=2018-03-23|archive-date=2018-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012074427/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Chatterjee and Hitchens were called by the [[Holy See|Vatican]] to present evidence against Teresa during her [[canonisation]] process.<ref name=Crawley>{{cite news |author=Crawley, William |author-link=William Crawley |title=Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict? |work=BBC |date=26 August 2010 |access-date=18 December 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/08/mother_teresa_the_final_verdic.html |archive-date=30 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330083945/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/08/mother_teresa_the_final_verdic.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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== |
== Recognition and reception == |
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In 1994, Robin Fox, then editor of the British medical journal ''[[The Lancet]],'' visited the [[Kalighat Home for the Dying|Home for Dying Destitutes]] in Calcutta (now [[Kolkata]]) and described the medical care the patients received as "haphazard".<ref name=Fox>{{cite journal |author=Fox, Robin |title=Mother Teresa's care for the dying |journal=The Lancet |volume=344 |issue=8925 |pages=807–808 |year=1994 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92353-1|pmid=7818649 |s2cid=54305918 }}</ref> He observed that sisters and volunteers, some of whom had no medical knowledge, frequently made decisions about patient care because of the lack of doctors in the hospice: "There are doctors that call in from time to time," Fox wrote, "but usually the sisters and volunteers (some of whom have medical knowledge) make decisions as best they can."<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet">{{Cite journal|last=Fox|first=Robin|date=September 17, 1994|title=Calcutta Perspective: Mother Theresa's care for the dying|journal=The Lancet|volume=344|issue=8925|pages=807–808|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92353-1|pmid=7818649|s2cid=54305918|via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Fox witnessed one patient with high fever being treated with [[paracetamol]] and [[tetracycline]], an antibiotic, only to be later diagnosed with [[malaria]] by a visiting doctor, who prescribed [[chloroquine]]. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for these conditions in the Home, writing, Mother Teresa "prefers providence to planning".<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet" /> Fox also observed that staff either declined to use or lacked access to blood films or "simple algorithms that might help the sisters distinguish" between [[curability|curable and incurable]] patients: "Investigations, I was told, are seldom permissible".<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet" /> |
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=== In India === |
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Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included "cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and loving kindness", but critiqued the sisters' "spiritual approach" to managing pain: "I was disturbed to learn that the [[Formulary (pharmacy)|formulary]] includes no strong [[analgesic]]s. Along with the neglect of diagnosis, the lack of good analgesia marks Mother Theresa's [sic] approach as clearly separate from the [[Hospice|hospice movement]]. I know which I prefer."<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet" /> |
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From the Indian government, under the name of Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa was issued a diplomatic passport.<ref name="Navin Chawla">{{Cite book |last=Chawla |first=Navin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58bx0CNQy9sC&q=Mother+Teresa+Navin+Chawla |title=Mother Teresa |publisher=Penguin |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-14-303178-9 |location=New Delhi |page=1 |author-link=Navin Chawla |access-date=21 Sep 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102000122/https://books.google.com/books?id=58bx0CNQy9sC&q=Mother+Teresa+Navin+Chawla |archive-date=2 November 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> She received the [[Padma Shri]] in 1962 and the [[Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nehru Award Recipients {{!}} Indian Council for Cultural Relations {{!}} Government of India |url=http://www.iccr.gov.in/content/nehru-award-recipients |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406014617/http://www.iccr.gov.in/content/nehru-award-recipients |archive-date=6 April 2018 |access-date=18 May 2017 |website=www.iccr.gov.in |language=en}}</ref> She later received other Indian awards, including the [[Bharat Ratna]] (India's highest civilian award) in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 May 2015 |title=List of Recipients of Bharat Ratna |url=https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/RecipientsBR_140515_1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115154209/https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/RecipientsBR_140515_1.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2020 |access-date=15 November 2020 |website=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]}}</ref> Mother Teresa's official biography, by [[Navin Chawla]], was published in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chawla |first=Navin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7AmVAAAACAAJ |title=Mother Teresa: The Authorized Biography |publisher=Diane Publishing Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-7567-5548-5 |language=en |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201175315/https://books.google.com/books?id=7AmVAAAACAAJ |archive-date=1 February 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> In Calcutta, she is worshipped as a deity by some [[Hinduism|Hindus]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stacey |first=Daniel |date=3 September 2016 |title=In India, Teresa Draws Devotees of All Faiths |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-india-teresa-draws-devotees-of-all-faiths-1472857787 |url-status=live |access-date=18 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614072150/https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-india-teresa-draws-devotees-of-all-faiths-1472857787 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> |
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To commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, the government of India issued a special {{INR}}5 coin (the amount of money Mother Teresa had when she arrived in India) on 28 August 2010. President [[Pratibha Patil]] said, "Clad in a white sari with a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many—namely, the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families."<ref>{{Cite news |title=Commemorative coin on Mother Teresa released |work=The Times of India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Commemorative-coin-on-Mother-Teresa-released/articleshow/6451687.cms |url-status=live |access-date=18 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903101135/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Commemorative-coin-on-Mother-Teresa-released/articleshow/6451687.cms |archive-date=3 September 2017}}</ref> |
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Mary Loudon, who volunteered at the same facility, observed "syringes run under cold water and reused, aspirin given to those with terminal cancer, and cold baths given to everyone"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Loudon|first=Mary|date=1996-01-06|title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=17592151&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA17899217&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs|journal=British Medical Journal|language=en|volume=312|issue=7022|pages=64–66|doi=10.1136/bmj.312.7022.64a|s2cid=58762491|access-date=2020-07-25|archive-date=2021-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512163119/https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=17592151&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as overcrowding. |
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=== Internationally === |
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There have been a series of other reports documenting inattention to medical care in the order's facilities. Similar points of view have also been expressed by some former volunteers who worked for [[Missionaries of Charity|Teresa's order]]. Mother Teresa herself referred to the facilities as "Houses of the Dying".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Robin Fox|title=Mother Teresa's care for the dying|journal=[[The Lancet]]|year=1994|volume= 344|issue=8925|pages=807–808|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(94)92353-1|pmid=7818649|s2cid=54305918}}; ''cf''. "Mother Teresa's care for the dying," letters from David Jeffrey, Joseph O'Neill and Gilly Burns, ''[[The Lancet]]'' 344 (8929): 1098</ref> |
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Mother Teresa received the [[Ramon Magsaysay Award]] for Peace and International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia, in 1962. According to its citation, "The Board of Trustees recognises her merciful cognisance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation".<ref>Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (1962) ''Citation for Mother Teresa''.</ref> By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa was an international celebrity. She had been catapulted to fame via [[Malcolm Muggeridge]]'s 1969 [[BBC]] documentary, ''Something Beautiful for God'', before he released a [[Something Beautiful for God|1971 book of the same name]].<ref>{{cite news |title=A Hundred Years of Muggery |work=Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/a-hundred-years-of-muggery |url-status=live |access-date=24 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725110933/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/a-hundred-years-of-muggery |archive-date=25 July 2022 |quote=In a 1969 film entitled "Something Beautiful for God," he launched the persona that we all came to know as Mother Teresa. In a near-perfect return-serve to the hedonism of the day, he made a star out of a woman who scorned pelf and pleasure.}}</ref> Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time.<ref name="Timecrisis">{{cite news |last=Van Biema |first=David |date=23 August 2007 |title=Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=24 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825084420/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html |archive-date=25 August 2007}}</ref> During filming, footage shot in poor lighting (particularly at the Home for the Dying) was thought unlikely to be usable by the crew; the crew had been using new, untested [[photographic film]]. In England, the footage was found to be extremely well-lit and Muggeridge called it a miracle of "divine light" from Teresa.<ref>Sebba, Anne (1997). ''Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image''. New York. Doubleday, pp. 80–84. {{ISBN|0-385-48952-8}}.</ref> Other crew members said that it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film.<ref>Alpion, Gezmin (2007). ''Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?''. Routledge Press, p. 9. {{ISBN|0-415-39246-2}}.</ref> Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Malcolm Muggeridge's spiritual evolution |url=http://www.thewords.com/articles/mugquest.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529051032/http://www.thewords.com/articles/mugquest.htm |archive-date=29 May 2018 |access-date=20 December 2016 |website=www.thewords.com}}</ref> |
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Around this time, the Catholic world began to honour Mother Teresa publicly. Pope [[Paul VI]] gave her the inaugural [[Pope John XXIII]] Peace Prize in 1971, commending her work with the poor, her display of Christian charity and her efforts for peace.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clucas |first=Joan |title=Mother Teresa |location=New York |publisher=Chelsea House |date=1988 |isbn=1-55546-855-1 |pages=81–82}}</ref> She received the [[Pacem in Terris Award]] in 1976.<ref>''Quad City Times'' staff (17 October 2005). "Habitat official to receive Pacem in Terris honor". [[Peace Corps]]. Retrieved 26 May 2007.</ref> |
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In 2013, in a comprehensive review<ref name=Larivee>{{cite journal |author1=Larivée, Serge |author2=Carole Sénéchal |author3=Geneviève Chénard |title=Les côtés ténébreux de Mère Teresa |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=319–345 |year=2013 |doi=10.1177/0008429812469894|s2cid=144593256 }}</ref> covering 96% of the literature on Mother Teresa, a group of [[Université de Montréal]] academics reinforced the foregoing criticism, detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it,{{nbsp}}[...] her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce". Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's "hallowed image – which does not stand up to analysis of the facts – was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign" engineered by [[BBC]] journalist [[Malcolm Muggeridge]], who shared her anti-abortion views.<ref name=UdeM>{{cite web|title=Mother Teresa: Anything but a Saint... |publisher=U de M Nouvelles |date=1 March 2013 |url=http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20130301-mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401151627/http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20130301-mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint.html |archive-date=2016-04-01 }}</ref> |
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She was honoured by governments and civilian organisations and appointed an honorary Companion of the [[Order of Australia]] in 1982 "for service to the community of Australia and humanity at large".<ref>{{cite web |date=26 January 1982 |title=It's an Honour: AC |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/882114 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129181410/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/882114 |archive-date=29 January 2019 |access-date=24 August 2010 |publisher=Itsanhonour.gov.au}}</ref> The United Kingdom and the United States bestowed a number of awards, culminating in the [[Order of Merit]] in 1983 and [[honorary citizenship of the United States]] on 16 November 1996.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joint Resolution to Confer Honorary Citizenship of the United States on Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, also Known as Mother Teresa. |url=https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo45003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525110546/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-104publ218/pdf/PLAW-104publ218.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2020 |access-date=25 June 2017}}</ref> Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland gave her the Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994,<ref name="Frontline">Parvathi Menon Cover story: ''A life of selfless caring'', ''Frontline'', Vol.14 :: No. 19 :: 20 September–3 October 1997</ref> but her acceptance of this and the Haitian Legion of Honour was controversial. Mother Teresa was criticised for implicitly supporting the [[Duvalier|Duvaliers]] and corrupt businessmen such as [[Charles Keating]] and [[Robert Maxwell]]; she wrote to the judge of Keating's trial requesting clemency.<ref name="Frontline" /><ref name="BMJ">{{cite journal |author=Loudon, Mary |date=6 January 1996 |title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Book Review |journal=BMJ |volume=312 |issue=7022 |pages=64–65 |doi=10.1136/bmj.312.7022.64a |s2cid=58762491}}</ref> |
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== Baptisms of the dying == |
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According to [[Christopher Hitchens]], Mother Teresa encouraged members of her order to secretly [[baptism|baptise]] dying patients, without regard to the individual's religion. Susan Shields, a former member of the Missionaries of Charity, writes that "Sisters were to ask each person in danger of death if he wanted a 'ticket to heaven'. An affirmative reply was to mean consent to baptism. The sister was then to pretend that she was just cooling the patient's head with a wet cloth, while in fact she was baptising him, saying quietly the necessary words. Secrecy was important so that it would not come to be known that Mother Teresa's sisters were baptising Hindus and Muslims."<ref name="Hitchens2012">{{cite book |author=Christopher Hitchens |author-link=Christopher Hitchens |title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3qoIwJWGLIC&pg=PT51 |date=24 April 2012 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-3919-5 |pages=51– |access-date=20 February 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503030726/https://books.google.com/books?id=t3qoIwJWGLIC&pg=PT51 |url-status=live }}</ref> These allegations, if true, would be a breach of the Missionaries of Charity's constitution which states "it is never lawful for anyone to force others to embrace the Catholic Faith against their conscience".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Murzaku |first=Ines |date=2022-01-15 |title=Mother Teresa’s Sisters Don’t Have to Proselytize — They Have the Love of God to Share |url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/missionaries-of-charity-persecution-in-india |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=NCR |language=en}}</ref> |
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Universities in India and the West granted her honorary degrees.<ref name="Frontline" /> Other civilian awards included the [[Balzan Prize]] for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978)<ref>[http://www.balzan.it/Premiati.aspx?Codice=0000001003&nome=Mother%20Teresa%20of%20Calcutta Mother Teresa of Calcutta], Fondazione Internazionale Balzan, 1978 Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood among Peoples. Retrieved 26 May 2007. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514221631/http://www.balzan.it/Premiati.aspx?Codice=0000001003&nome=Mother%20Teresa%20of%20Calcutta|date=14 May 2006}}</ref> and the [[Albert Schweitzer]] International Prize (1975).<ref>Jones, Alice & Brown, Jonathan (7 March 2007). "Opposites attract? When Robert Maxwell met Mother Teresa". ''The Independent''. Retrieved 25 March 2012.</ref> In April 1976, Mother Teresa visited the [[University of Scranton]] in northeastern [[Pennsylvania]], where she received the La Storta Medal for Human Service from university president [[William J. Byron]].<ref name="Mother Teresa Addresses 4,500">{{cite news |date=1 May 1976 |title=Mother Teresa Addresses 4,500 At Long Center |work=Catholic Light |publisher=The University of Scranton Digital Collections |agency=The University of Scranton |url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/32324/rec/4 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106224810/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/32324/rec/4 |archive-date=6 November 2018}}</ref> She challenged an audience of 4,500 to "know poor people in your own home and local neighbourhood", feeding others or simply spreading joy and love.<ref name="Spread Love, Help Poor of Heart">{{cite news |last1=Cannella |first1=Tony |date=28 April 1976 |title=Mother Teresa Asks Local Citizens To Spread Love, Help Poor of Heart |work=Scranton Times |publisher=The University of Scranton Digital Collections |agency=The University of Scranton |url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/32349/rec/5 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725120937/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/32349/rec/5 |archive-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> Mother Teresa continued: "The poor will help us grow in sanctity, for they are Christ in the guise of distress".<ref name="Mother Teresa Addresses 4,500" /> In August 1987, Mother Teresa received an honorary doctor of social science degree from the university in recognition of her service and her ministry to help the destitute and sick.<ref name="U of S Honorary Degree">{{cite news |last1=Connors |first1=Terry |date=October 1987 |title=Mother Teresa Awarded Honorary Degree |work=Northeast Magazine |publisher=The University of Scranton Digital Collections |agency=The University of Scranton |url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16134/rec/13 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725111342/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16134/rec/13 |archive-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> She spoke to over 4,000 students and members of the [[Diocese of Scranton]]<ref name="MT in Scranton">{{cite news |last1=Pifer |first1=Jerry |date=6 September 1987 |title=Mother Teresa in Scranton |work=Scrantonian |publisher=The University of Scranton Digital Collections |agency=The University of Scranton |url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16235/rec/22 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725120338/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16235/rec/22 |archive-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> about her service to the "poorest of the poor", telling them to "do small things with great love".<ref name="Small Things with Great Love Address">{{cite news |date=27 August 1987 |title=Do Small Things with Great Love: Mother Teresa Graces Diocese |work=Catholic Light |publisher=The University of Scranton Digital Collections |agency=The University of Scranton |url=http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16278/rec/26 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106215727/http://digitalservices.scranton.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/clippings/id/16278/rec/26 |archive-date=6 November 2018}}</ref> |
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In a review of Hitchens' book, Murray Kempton has argued that patients were not provided sufficient information to make an informed decision about whether they wanted to be baptised and the theological significance of a Christian baptism.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Kempton |first1=Murray |title=The Shadow Saint |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/07/11/the-shadow-saint/ |website=www.nybooks.com |publisher=The New York Review of Books |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222120450/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/07/11/the-shadow-saint/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Pierre Ryckmans (writer)|Simon Leys]], defending the Missionaries in a letter to the ''New York Review of Books'', argued that baptisms provided by the sisters were either desired by the patient or an expression of "sincere concern and affection".<ref name=":1">{{cite magazine |last1=Leys |first1=Simon |author-link=Pierre Ryckmans (writer) |title=In Defense of Mother Teresa |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/09/19/in-defense-of-mother-teresa/ |publisher=The New York Review of Books |access-date=18 December 2015 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035238/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/09/19/in-defense-of-mother-teresa/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He claimed that this criticism (originating from Christopher Hitchens, a famous atheist and [[Antitheism|antitheist]]) stems from [[anti-Christian sentiment]].<ref name=":1" /> |
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During her lifetime, Mother Teresa was among the top 10 women in the annual [[Gallup's most admired man and woman poll]] 18 times, finishing first several times in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>Frank Newport, David W. Moore, and Lydia Saad (13 December 1999). "Most Admired Men and Women: 1948–1998", [[The Gallup Organization]].</ref> In 1999 she headed [[Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century]],<ref name="gallup-20c">Frank Newport (31 December 1999). "Mother Teresa Voted by American People as Most Admired Person of the Century", [[The Gallup Organization]].</ref> out-polling all other volunteered answers by a wide margin. She was first in all major demographic categories except the very young.<ref name="gallup-20c" /><ref>[http://www.pollingreport.com/20th.htm Greatest of the Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105022914/http://www.pollingreport.com/20th.htm|date=5 January 2007}} Gallup/CNN/USA Today Poll. 20–21 December 1999.</ref> |
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[[Seton Hall University]] academic Dr Ines Murzaku says that accusations of forced conversion by the Missionaries of Charity are unfounded and are used by the [[Hindu nationalism|Hindu nationalist]] [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) to [[Persecution of Indian Christians|persecute Indian Christians]].<ref name=":0" /> |
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==== Nobel Peace Prize ==== |
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== Relationships with controversial public figures == |
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{{external media|video1=[https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1852 Mother Teresa's 1979 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech]|width=210px|float=right}}In 1979, Mother Teresa received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace".<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Committee: The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 press release |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623181949/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/press.html |archive-date=23 June 2017 |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet for laureates, asking that its $192,000 cost be given to the poor in India.<ref>Locke, Michelle (22 March 2007). "Berkeley Nobel laureates donate prize money to charity". ''San Francisco Gate''. Associated Press. Retrieved 26 May 2007</ref> |
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In ''[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|Hell's Angel]]'' and ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice|The Missionary Position]]'', Hitchens leveled criticism at what he perceived to be Mother Teresa's endorsement of Albanian President [[Enver Hoxha]], who in 1967, forcibly closed all religious facilities, including her own faith's Roman Catholic ones and also outlawed private worship. Hoxha also used food- and beverage-based [[entrapment]] at schools and workplaces during [[Lent]] and [[Ramadan]], by offering foods and non-water drinks that were forbidden during these observances' [[fasting]] hours (and offering pork to Jews and Muslims which is forbidden to both at all times under both religions' dietary laws and alcohol to Muslims which, like pork, is always forbidden to them), and people who refused these items were publicly denounced as enemies of the state. This continued until Hoxha's death in 1985, whereas his successor, [[Ramiz Alia]], was more tolerant of private religious observances and who re-legalized public worship in 1990. She visited Albania in August 1989, where she was received by Hoxha's widow, [[Nexhmije Hoxha|Nexhmije]], [[Foreign relations of Albania|Foreign Minister]] [[Reis Malile]], [[Ministry of Health and Social Protection|Minister of Health]] Ahmet Kamberi, the Chairman of the People's Assembly [[Petro Dode]], and other state and party officials, subsequently laying a bouquet on Hoxha's grave, and placed a wreath on the statue of [[Mother Albania (statue)|Mother Albania]].<ref name=hitchens1995>{{cite book |last1=Hitchens |first1=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Hitchens |url=https://archive.org/details/missionarypositi00chri |url-access=registration |title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice |location=London |publisher=Verso |year=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/missionarypositi00chri/page/82 82] |isbn=978-1-85984-054-2 |access-date=22 August 2014 }}</ref>{{Undue weight inline|date=August 2023|reason=Seems to be a fairly large section for a criticism made by one person, with the only citation being that man's person.}} |
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== Sainthood == |
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After Indian Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]]'s suspension of civil liberties in 1975 ([[The Emergency (India)|The Emergency]]), Mother Teresa said: "People are happier. There are more jobs. There are no strikes." These approving comments were seen as a result of the friendship between Teresa and the Congress Party. Mother Teresa's comments were criticised by some outside India within the Catholic media.<ref name=Chatterjee>{{cite book |author=Chatterjee, Aroup |author-link=Aroup Chatterjee |title=Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict |publisher=Meteor Books |date=2002 |page=276 |isbn=9788188248001}}</ref> |
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Mother Teresa is a [[saint]] in the [[Catholic Church]]. Pope Francis [[Canonization|canonised]] her at a ceremony on 4 September 2016 in [[St. Peter's Square]] in Vatican City. Tens of thousands of people witnessed the ceremony, including 15 government delegations and 1,500 homeless people from across Italy.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Povoledo |first=Elisabetta |date=3 September 2016 |title=Mother Teresa Is Made a Saint by Pope Francis |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/europe/mother-teresa-named-saint-by-pope-francis.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507190249/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/europe/mother-teresa-named-saint-by-pope-francis.html |archive-date=7 May 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{cite news |date=4 September 2016 |title=Mother Teresa declared saint by Pope Francis at Vatican ceremony |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37269512 |url-status=live |access-date=4 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413061832/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37269512 |archive-date=13 April 2019}}</ref> It was televised live on the Vatican channel and streamed online; Skopje, Mother Teresa's hometown, announced a week-long celebration of her canonisation.<ref name=":02" /> In India, a special Mass was celebrated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.<ref name=":12" /> |
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==Chatterjee, Hitchens, and Ali== |
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== Motivation for charitable activities == |
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Three prominent authors, [[Aroup Chatterjee]], [[Christopher Hitchens]], and [[Tariq Ali]], have criticized Mother Teresa. |
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She was sometimes accused by [[Hindus]] in her adopted country of trying to convert the poor to Christianity by "stealth".<ref name="bbcday">{{Cite news|date=1997-09-05|title=1997: Mother Teresa dies|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/5/newsid_2499000/2499693.stm|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2017-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904172640/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/5/newsid_2499000/2499693.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Christopher Hitchens described Mother Teresa's organisation as a [[cult]] that promoted suffering and did not help those in need. He said that Mother Teresa's own words on poverty proved that her intention was not to help people, while he quoted her words at a 1981 press conference in which she was asked: "Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?" She replied: "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people."<ref name=hitchens1995 /> |
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Aroup Chatterjee, an Indian author and physician, who briefly worked in one of Mother Teresa's homes, investigated the practices of Teresa's order. In 1994, two British journalists, Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ali, produced a highly critical British [[Channel 4]] documentary, ''[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|Hell's Angel]]'', based on Chatterjee's work. In 2012, William Doino Jr, a Catholic freelance journalist, working for ''Inside the Vatican'' and ''First Things'', wrote "The remarkable thing about ''Hell's Angel'' is that it purports to defend the poor against Mother Teresa<nowiki>'s supposed exploitation of them, while never actually interviewing any on screen. Not a single person cared for by the Missionaries speaks on camera. Was this because they had a far higher opinion of Blessed Teresa than Hitchens would permit in his film? Avoiding the people at the heart of Teresa's ministry, Hitchens posed for the camera and let roll a series of ''ad hominem''</nowiki> attacks and unsubstantiated accusations, as uninformed as they were cruel."<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2013 |title=Mother Teresa and Her Critics {{!}} William Doino Jr. |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505095538/https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics |archive-date=2019-05-05 |access-date=2021-09-09 |website=First Things |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=William Doino Jr. Archives |url=https://humanlifereview.com/byline/william-doino-jr/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=The Human Life Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-11-24 |title=Fighting the Lord's Fight |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/culture/fighting-lords-fight |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=America Magazine |language=en}}</ref> |
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== Relationship to colonialism and racism == |
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In 1995, Hitchens published ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice]]'', a book that repeated many of the accusations in the documentary. Hitchens described Mother Teresa's organisation as a [[cult]] that promoted suffering and did not help those in need.<ref name="hitchens1995">{{cite book |last1=Hitchens |first1=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/missionarypositi00chri |title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice |publisher=Verso |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-85984-054-2 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/missionarypositi00chri/page/82 82] |author-link=Christopher Hitchens |access-date=22 August 2014 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Chatterjee published ''The Final Verdict'' in 2003, a less polemical work than those of Hitchens and Ali, but equally critical of Teresa's operations.<ref name="Dutta">{{cite news |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=176802§ioncode=40 |title=Saint of the gutters with friends in high places |author-last=Dutta |author-first=Krishna |date=16 May 2003 |work=[[Times Higher Education]] |access-date=4 March 2011 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921070735/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=176802§ioncode=40 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Chatterjee, Mother Teresa's comments after Indian Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]]'s suspension of civil liberties in 1975 ([[The Emergency (India)|The Emergency]]) were criticised by some outside India within the Catholic media.<ref name="Chatterjee">{{cite book |author=Chatterjee, Aroup |title=Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict |date=2002 |publisher=Meteor Books |isbn=9788188248001 |page=276 |author-link=Aroup Chatterjee}}</ref> In 2003, after Teresa was [[Beatification|beatified]] by John Paul II, Hitchens continued his criticism, calling her "a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud." He further criticised the Catholic Church for attributing the recovery of a patient to a [[miracle]], and for ignoring the testimony of the patient's doctor, who attributed the recovery of his patient to modern medicine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html|title=Mommie Dearest|first=Christopher|last=Hitchens|author-link=Christopher Hitchens|publisher=Slate|date=2003-10-20|access-date=2018-03-23|archive-date=2018-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012074427/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Chatterjee and Hitchens were called by the [[Holy See|Vatican]] to present evidence against Teresa during her [[canonisation]] process.<ref name="Crawley">{{cite news |author=Crawley, William |author-link=William Crawley |title=Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict? |work=BBC |date=26 August 2010 |access-date=18 December 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/08/mother_teresa_the_final_verdic.html |archive-date=30 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330083945/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2010/08/mother_teresa_the_final_verdic.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Mother Teresa was at various points accused of perpetuating colonialism through a [[White savior|white saviour]] mindset.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-icon-teresa-both-adored-attacked-102808968.html|title=Catholic icon Teresa was both adored and attacked|website=www.yahoo.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-03|archive-date=2019-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503063912/https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-icon-teresa-both-adored-attacked-102808968.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Schultz|first=Kai|date=2016-08-26|title=A Critic's Lonely Quest: Revealing the Whole Truth About Mother Teresa|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/mother-teresa-critic.html|access-date=2021-11-05|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2019-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405115919/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/mother-teresa-critic.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Prashad1">{{cite book |author1-last=Prashad |author1-first=Vijay |title=White Women in Racialized Spaces: Imaginative Transformation and Ethical Action in Literature |date=2012 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8808-9 |editor1-last=Najmi |editor1-first=Samina |edition=illustrated |pages=67–68 |chapter=Mother Teresa as the Mirror of Bourgeois Guilt |author-link=Vijay Prashad |access-date=8 March 2015 |editor2-last=Srikanth |editor2-first=Rajini |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8icnIAgbEC&pg=PA67 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615083441/https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8icnIAgbEC&pg=PA67 |archive-date=15 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> |
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In ''[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|Hell's Angel]]'' and ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice|The Missionary Position]]'', Hitchens leveled criticism at what he perceived to be Mother Teresa's endorsement of Albanian President [[Enver Hoxha]], who in 1967, forcibly closed all religious facilities, including her own faith's Roman Catholic ones and also outlawed private worship. She visited Albania in August 1989, where she was received by Hoxha's widow, [[Nexhmije Hoxha|Nexhmije]], [[Foreign relations of Albania|Foreign Minister]] [[Reis Malile]], [[Ministry of Health and Social Protection|Minister of Health]] Ahmet Kamberi, the Chairman of the People's Assembly [[Petro Dode]], and other state and party officials, subsequently laying a bouquet on Hoxha's grave, and placed a wreath on the statue of [[Mother Albania (statue)|Mother Albania]].<ref name="hitchens1995" />{{Undue weight inline|date=August 2023|reason=Seems to be a fairly large section for a criticism made by one person, with the only citation being that man's person.}} |
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== Posthumous criticisms == |
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Mother Teresa died in 1997. Despite her request that all of her writings and correspondences be destroyed, a collection of them was posthumously released to the public in book form.<ref name=Come>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVaPAgAACAAJ&q=Mother+Teresa:+Come+Be+My+Light |title=Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta |year=2007 |editor=Kolodiejchuk, Brian |isbn=978-0-307-58923-1 |access-date=2021-05-29 |archive-date=2022-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201175334/https://books.google.com/books?id=EVaPAgAACAAJ&q=Mother+Teresa%3A+Come+Be+My+Light |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|13–18}} Her writings revealed that she struggled with feelings of disconnectedness,<ref name=VanBiema>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720,00.html |author=Van Biema, David |title=Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith |magazine=Time |date=23 August 2007 |access-date=23 November 2013 |archive-date=26 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426235802/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> that were in contrast to the strong feelings which she had experienced as a young novice.<ref name=Reveals>{{cite web |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2007/09/New-Book-Reveals-Mother-Teresas-Struggle-With-Faith.aspx |publisher=Beliefnet |title=New Book Reveals Mother Teresa's Struggle with Faith |access-date=2015-11-07 |archive-date=2019-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627040429/https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2007/09/new-book-reveals-mother-teresas-struggle-with-faith.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> In her letters Mother Teresa describes a decades-long sense of feeling disconnected from God<ref name=Moore>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1561247/Mother-Teresas-40-year-faith-crisis.html |author=Moore, Malcolm |work=Telegraph |title=Mother Teresa's 40 year faith crisis |date=24 August 2007 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503071854/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1561247/Mother-Teresas-40-year-faith-crisis.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and lacking the earlier zeal that had characterised her efforts to start the [[Missionaries of Charity]]. As a result of this, she was judged by some to have "ceased to believe" and was posthumously criticised for [[hypocrisy]].<ref name=Mannion>{{cite news |url=http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul-2994/ |work=Catholic News Agency |title=Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Dark Night of the Soul |author=Mannion, Francis |date=18 September 2014 |access-date=7 November 2015 |archive-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806110449/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul-2994 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Crisis>{{cite news |title=CNN iReport: 'Crisis of Faith: Mother Teresa's letters' |work=CNN |date=1 June 2009 |access-date=18 December 2015 |url=http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-265369 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164009/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-265369 |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=May 2018}} Thomas C. Reeves suggests that this criticism displays a basic unfamiliarity with the concept of the "[[spiritual dryness|dark night of the soul]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mother Teresa's Critics Undone|url=https://www.catholicleague.org/mother-teresas-critics-undone/|last=Bill|website=Catholic League|date=20 September 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2019-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503080500/https://www.catholicleague.org/mother-teresas-critics-undone/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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=== Hitchens' allegations of forced baptisms === |
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"Holier than Thou", the May 23, 2005, episode of the [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] programme ''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]'', criticised Mother Teresa, as well as [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and the [[14th Dalai Lama]]. Specifically, the episode pointed to Mother Teresa's relationships with [[Charles Keating]] and the [[Duvalier|Duvalier family]], as well as the quality of medical care in her home for the dying. [[Christopher Hitchens]] appears in the episode, offering accounts based on his reporting on her life.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Holier Than Thou |series=Penn & Teller: Bullshit! |number=5 |season=3 |date=23 May 2005 |network=Showtime |series-link=Penn & Teller: Bullshit!}}</ref> According to Navin B. Chawla, the Missionaries of Charity set up a small mission in [[Port-au-Prince]]. A day after Mother Teresa visited and left, [[Michèle Bennett]] (Haiti's dictator [[François Duvalier]]'s daughter-in-law) went to Mother Teresa's mission and donated $1,000, not one million as reported.<ref name=Chawla>Chawla, Navin B. (August 26, 2013). [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-mother-teresa-her-critics-choose-to-ignore/article5058894.ece Chawla, Navin B., "The Mother Teresa her critics choose to ignore"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504211225/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-mother-teresa-her-critics-choose-to-ignore/article5058894.ece |date=2019-05-04 }}. ''The Hindu''.</ref> |
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In ''The Missionary Position'', Hitchens claims that Mother Teresa and her sisters performed forced baptisms; however, this has been disputed. According to Hitchens, Mother Teresa encouraged members of her order to secretly [[baptism|baptise]] dying patients, without regard to the individual's religion. In his book Susan Shields, a former member of the Missionaries of Charity, states that "Sisters were to ask each person in danger of death if he wanted a 'ticket to heaven'. An affirmative reply was to mean consent to baptism. The sister was then to pretend that she was just cooling the patient's head with a wet cloth, while in fact she was baptising him, saying quietly the necessary words. Secrecy was important so that it would not come to be known that Mother Teresa's sisters were baptising Hindus and Muslims."<ref name="Hitchens2012">{{cite book |author=Christopher Hitchens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3qoIwJWGLIC&pg=PT51 |title=The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice |date=24 April 2012 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-3919-5 |pages=51– |author-link=Christopher Hitchens |access-date=20 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503030726/https://books.google.com/books?id=t3qoIwJWGLIC&pg=PT51 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> These allegations, if true, would be a breach of the Missionaries of Charity's constitution which states "it is never lawful for anyone to force others to embrace the Catholic Faith against their conscience".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Murzaku |first=Ines |date=2022-01-15 |title=Mother Teresa's Sisters Don't Have to Proselytize — They Have the Love of God to Share |url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/missionaries-of-charity-persecution-in-india |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=NCR |language=en}}</ref> |
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In a review of Hitchens' book, Murray Kempton has argued that patients were not provided sufficient information to make an informed decision about whether they wanted to be baptised and the theological significance of a Christian baptism.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Kempton |first1=Murray |title=The Shadow Saint |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/07/11/the-shadow-saint/ |url-status=live |website=www.nybooks.com |publisher=The New York Review of Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222120450/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/07/11/the-shadow-saint/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> [[Pierre Ryckmans (writer)|Simon Leys]], defending the Missionaries in a letter to the ''New York Review of Books'', argued that baptisms provided by the sisters were either desired by the patient or an expression of "sincere concern and affection", and stated that forced baptism is either beneficial or meaningless.<ref name=":1">{{cite magazine |last1=Leys |first1=Simon |author-link=Pierre Ryckmans (writer) |title=In Defense of Mother Teresa |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/09/19/in-defense-of-mother-teresa/ |url-status=live |magazine=The New York Review of Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035238/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1996/09/19/in-defense-of-mother-teresa/ |archive-date=1 December 2017 |access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref> He claimed that this criticism (originating from Christopher Hitchens, a famous atheist and [[Antitheism|antitheist]]) stems from [[anti-Christian sentiment]].<ref name=":1" /> |
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[[Seton Hall University]] academic Dr Ines Murzaku says that accusations of forced conversion by the Missionaries of Charity are unfounded and are used by the [[Hindu nationalism|Hindu nationalist]] [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) to [[Persecution of Indian Christians|persecute Indian Christians]].<ref name=":0" /> |
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== Quality of medical care == |
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In 1994, Robin Fox, then editor of the British medical journal ''[[The Lancet]],'' visited the [[Kalighat Home for the Dying|Home for Dying Destitutes]] in Calcutta (now [[Kolkata]]) and described the medical care the patients received as "haphazard".<ref name=Fox>{{cite journal |author=Fox, Robin |title=Mother Teresa's care for the dying |journal=The Lancet |volume=344 |issue=8925 |pages=807–808 |year=1994 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92353-1|pmid=7818649 |s2cid=54305918 }}</ref> He observed that sisters and volunteers, some of whom had no medical knowledge, frequently made decisions about patient care because of the lack of doctors in the hospice: "There are doctors that call in from time to time," Fox wrote, "but usually the sisters and volunteers (some of whom have medical knowledge) make decisions as best they can."<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet">{{Cite journal|last=Fox|first=Robin|date=September 17, 1994|title=Calcutta Perspective: Mother Theresa's care for the dying|journal=The Lancet|volume=344|issue=8925|pages=807–808|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92353-1|pmid=7818649|s2cid=54305918|via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> Fox witnessed one patient with high fever being treated with [[paracetamol]] and [[tetracycline]], an antibiotic, only to be later diagnosed with [[malaria]] by a visiting doctor, who prescribed [[chloroquine]]. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for these conditions in the Home, writing, Mother Teresa "prefers providence to planning". Fox also observed that staff either declined to use or lacked access to blood films or "simple algorithms that might help the sisters distinguish" between [[curability|curable and incurable]] patients: "Investigations, I was told, are seldom permissible".<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet"/> |
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Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included "cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and loving kindness", but critiqued the sisters' "spiritual approach" to managing pain: "I was disturbed to learn that the [[Formulary (pharmacy)|formulary]] includes no strong [[analgesic]]s. Along with the neglect of diagnosis, the lack of good analgesia marks Mother Theresa's [sic] approach as clearly separate from the [[Hospice|hospice movement]]. I know which I prefer."<ref name="Robin Fox Lancet"/> |
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An article by David Jeffrey, Joseph O'Neill, and Gilly Burn in ''The Lancet'' responded to Fox, and argued that it was disingenuous to single out Mother Teresa's hospices for healthcare limitations that were common to most care facilities in India. They noted Indian healthcare generally suffered from: "1) lack of education of doctors and nurses, 2) few drugs, and 3) very strict state government legislation, which prohibits the use of strong analgesics even to patients dying of cancer". They concluded Mother Teresa's homes were being unfairly held to the standards of "Western-style hospice care{{nbsp}}[...] not relevant to India".<ref name=":4">Jeffrey, D., O'Neill, J. and Burn, G., 1994. Mother Teresa's care for the dying. The Lancet, 344(8929), p.1098. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(94)91759-0</ref> Additionally, Mother Teresa never set out to set up hospitals or hospices, but rather places for those the hospitals would not accept.<ref name=":2"/> |
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== Other criticisms == |
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Mother Teresa died in 1997. Despite her request that all of her writings and correspondences be destroyed, a collection of them was posthumously released to the public in book form.<ref name=Come>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVaPAgAACAAJ&q=Mother+Teresa:+Come+Be+My+Light |title=Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta |year=2007 |publisher=Crown Publishing |editor=Kolodiejchuk, Brian |isbn=978-0-307-58923-1 |access-date=2021-05-29 |archive-date=2022-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201175334/https://books.google.com/books?id=EVaPAgAACAAJ&q=Mother+Teresa%3A+Come+Be+My+Light |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|13–18}} Her writings revealed that she struggled with feelings of disconnectedness,<ref name=VanBiema>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720,00.html |author=Van Biema, David |title=Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith |magazine=Time |date=23 August 2007 |access-date=23 November 2013 |archive-date=26 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426235802/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> that were in contrast to the strong feelings which she had experienced as a young novice.<ref name=Reveals>{{cite web |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2007/09/New-Book-Reveals-Mother-Teresas-Struggle-With-Faith.aspx |publisher=Beliefnet |title=New Book Reveals Mother Teresa's Struggle with Faith |access-date=2015-11-07 |archive-date=2019-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627040429/https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2007/09/new-book-reveals-mother-teresas-struggle-with-faith.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> In her letters Mother Teresa describes a decades-long sense of feeling disconnected from God<ref name=Moore>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1561247/Mother-Teresas-40-year-faith-crisis.html |author=Moore, Malcolm |work=Telegraph |title=Mother Teresa's 40 year faith crisis |date=24 August 2007 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503071854/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1561247/Mother-Teresas-40-year-faith-crisis.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and lacking the earlier zeal that had characterised her efforts to start the [[Missionaries of Charity]]. As a result of this, she was judged by some to have "ceased to believe" and was posthumously criticised for [[hypocrisy]].<ref name=Mannion>{{cite news |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/52993/mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul |work=Catholic News Agency |title=Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Dark Night of the Soul |author=Mannion, Francis |date=18 September 2014 |access-date=7 November 2015 |archive-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806110449/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul-2994 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Crisis>{{cite news |title=CNN iReport: 'Crisis of Faith: Mother Teresa's letters' |work=CNN |date=1 June 2009 |access-date=18 December 2015 |url=http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-265369 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164009/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-265369 |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=May 2018}} Thomas C. Reeves suggests that this criticism displays a basic unfamiliarity with the concept of the "[[spiritual dryness|dark night of the soul]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mother Teresa's Critics Undone|url=https://www.catholicleague.org/mother-teresas-critics-undone/|last=Bill|website=Catholic League|date=20 September 2016|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2019-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503080500/https://www.catholicleague.org/mother-teresas-critics-undone/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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After the Jesuit priest [[Donald McGuire (Jesuit)|Donald McGuire]] was convicted of sexually molesting multiple children, Mother Teresa was criticized for defending him and urging that he be reinstated to the ministry after he was initially removed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jamison |first1=Peter |title=Tainted Saint: Mother Teresa Defended Pedophile Priest |url=https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/tainted-saint-mother-teresa-defended-pedophile-priest/Content?oid=2183718 |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=SF Weekly |language=en |archive-date=10 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010194155/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/tainted-saint-mother-teresa-defended-pedophile-priest/Content?oid=2183718 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Nelson |title=Mother Teresa and the Paedophile |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/01/mother-teresa-mcguire-abuse |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=New Statesman |date=10 June 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009212130/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/01/mother-teresa-mcguire-abuse |url-status=live }}</ref> |
After the Jesuit priest [[Donald McGuire (Jesuit)|Donald McGuire]] was convicted of sexually molesting multiple children, Mother Teresa was criticized for defending him and urging that he be reinstated to the ministry after he was initially removed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jamison |first1=Peter |title=Tainted Saint: Mother Teresa Defended Pedophile Priest |url=https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/tainted-saint-mother-teresa-defended-pedophile-priest/Content?oid=2183718 |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=SF Weekly |language=en |archive-date=10 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010194155/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/tainted-saint-mother-teresa-defended-pedophile-priest/Content?oid=2183718 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Nelson |title=Mother Teresa and the Paedophile |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/01/mother-teresa-mcguire-abuse |access-date=2 November 2021 |work=New Statesman |date=10 June 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009212130/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/01/mother-teresa-mcguire-abuse |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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In 2013, in a comprehensive review<ref name="Larivee">{{cite journal |author1=Larivée, Serge |author2=Carole Sénéchal |author3=Geneviève Chénard |year=2013 |title=Les côtés ténébreux de Mère Teresa |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=319–345 |doi=10.1177/0008429812469894 |s2cid=144593256}}</ref> covering 96% of the literature on Mother Teresa, a group of [[Université de Montréal]] academics reinforced the foregoing criticism, detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it,{{nbsp}}[...] her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce". Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's "hallowed image – which does not stand up to analysis of the facts – was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign" engineered by Catholic [[BBC]] journalist [[Malcolm Muggeridge]].<ref name="UdeM">{{cite web |date=1 March 2013 |title=Mother Teresa: Anything but a Saint... |url=http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20130301-mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401151627/http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20130301-mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint.html |archive-date=2016-04-01 |publisher=U de M Nouvelles}}</ref> |
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In 2016, when she was canonised, [[Dan Savage]] drew attention to the conflicting evidence and accused [[NPR]] of describing alleged miracles in a way that favoured the church's interpretation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/08/31/24529972/npr-believes-in-miracles|title=NPR Believes in Miracles|first=Dan|last=Savage|publisher=The Stranger|date=2016-08-31|access-date=2018-03-23|archive-date=2016-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111212129/http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/08/31/24529972/npr-believes-in-miracles|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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In 2021, [[Michelle Goldberg]], an opinion columnist for ''[[The New York Times]]'' published a column suggesting that some of Mother Teresa's actions were those of a cult leader.<ref name |
In 2021, [[Michelle Goldberg]], an opinion columnist for ''[[The New York Times]]'' published a column suggesting that some of Mother Teresa's actions were those of a cult leader.<ref name="nyt Goldberg 2021-05-21">{{Cite news|last=Goldberg|first=Michelle|date=2021-05-21|title=Opinion {{!}} Was Mother Teresa a Cult Leader?|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/opinion/mother-teresa.html|access-date=2021-05-21|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521094942/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/opinion/mother-teresa.html|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Mother Teresa was at various points accused of perpetuating colonialism through a [[White savior|white saviour]] mindset.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-icon-teresa-both-adored-attacked-102808968.html|title=Catholic icon Teresa was both adored and attacked|website=www.yahoo.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-03|archive-date=2019-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503063912/https://www.yahoo.com/news/catholic-icon-teresa-both-adored-attacked-102808968.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Schultz|first=Kai|date=2016-08-26|title=A Critic's Lonely Quest: Revealing the Whole Truth About Mother Teresa|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/mother-teresa-critic.html|access-date=2021-11-05|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2019-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405115919/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/mother-teresa-critic.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Prashad1">{{cite book |author1-last=Prashad |author1-first=Vijay |title=White Women in Racialized Spaces: Imaginative Transformation and Ethical Action in Literature |date=2012 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8808-9 |editor1-last=Najmi |editor1-first=Samina |edition=illustrated |pages=67–68 |chapter=Mother Teresa as the Mirror of Bourgeois Guilt |author-link=Vijay Prashad |access-date=8 March 2015 |editor2-last=Srikanth |editor2-first=Rajini |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8icnIAgbEC&pg=PA67 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615083441/https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8icnIAgbEC&pg=PA67 |archive-date=15 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> |
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== Responses to criticism == |
== Responses to criticism == |
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Navin B. Chawla |
In ''[[The Hindu]]'', Navin B. Chawla states that Mother Teresa never intended to build hospitals, but to [[End-of-life care|provide a place]] where those who had been refused admittance "could at least die being comforted and with some dignity." He also counters critics of Mother Teresa by stating that her periodic hospitalizations were instigated by staff members against her wishes, and disputes the claim that she conducted surreptitious baptisms. "Those who are quick to criticise Mother Teresa and her mission, are unable or unwilling to do anything to help with their own hands."<ref name="Chawla">Chawla, Navin B. (August 26, 2013). [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-mother-teresa-her-critics-choose-to-ignore/article5058894.ece Chawla, Navin B., "The Mother Teresa her critics choose to ignore"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504211225/https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-mother-teresa-her-critics-choose-to-ignore/article5058894.ece|date=2019-05-04}}. ''The Hindu''.</ref> |
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Sister [[Mary Prema Pierick]], the former Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, also stated that Mother Teresa's homes were never intended to be a substitute for hospitals, but rather "homes for those not accepted in the hospital... But if they need hospital care, then we have to take them to the hospital, and we do that." Sister Pierick also contested the claims that Mother Teresa deliberately cultivated suffering, and affirmed her order's goal was to alleviate suffering.<ref>{{Cite web|author=McDonagh, Melanie|url=https://www.ncregister.com/news/mother-teresa-saw-jesus-in-everyone|title='Mother Teresa Saw Jesus in Everyone'|date=2016-08-30|website=National Catholic Register|language=en-US|access-date=2022-02-03|archive-date=2022-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204075724/https://www.ncregister.com/news/mother-teresa-saw-jesus-in-everyone|url-status=live}}</ref> |
Sister [[Mary Prema Pierick]], the former Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, also stated that Mother Teresa's homes were never intended to be a substitute for hospitals, but rather "homes for those not accepted in the hospital... But if they need hospital care, then we have to take them to the hospital, and we do that." Sister Pierick also contested the claims that Mother Teresa deliberately cultivated suffering, and affirmed her order's goal was to alleviate suffering.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|author=McDonagh, Melanie|url=https://www.ncregister.com/news/mother-teresa-saw-jesus-in-everyone|title='Mother Teresa Saw Jesus in Everyone'|date=2016-08-30|website=National Catholic Register|language=en-US|access-date=2022-02-03|archive-date=2022-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204075724/https://www.ncregister.com/news/mother-teresa-saw-jesus-in-everyone|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Melanie McDonagh has noted that Mother Teresa is in large part "criticized for not being what she never set out to be, for not doing things which she never saw as her job.{{nbsp}}[...] What she wasn't was a head of government. She didn't address the fundamental causes of poverty because she was addressing the symptoms and she did that well," nor were her sisters social workers. McDonagh commented, "She wasn't trying to do anything except treat people at the margins of society as if they were Christ himself."<ref>{{Cite web|author= |
In ''[[The Spectator]]'', Melanie McDonagh has noted that Mother Teresa is in large part "criticized for not being what she never set out to be, for not doing things which she never saw as her job.{{nbsp}}[...] What she wasn't was a head of government. She didn't address the fundamental causes of poverty because she was addressing the symptoms and she did that well," nor were her sisters social workers. McDonagh commented, "She wasn't trying to do anything except treat people at the margins of society as if they were Christ himself."<ref>{{Cite web|author=McDonagh, Melanie|url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/09/mother-theresa-criticised-not-things-werent-job/|title=Why is Mother Teresa criticised for not doing things that weren't her job?|date=2016-09-04|website=Coffee House|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-10|archive-date=2019-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511164337/https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/09/mother-theresa-criticised-not-things-werent-job/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Mari Marcel Thekaekara |
In ''[[New Internationalist]]'', Mari Marcel Thekaekara notes that after the [[Bangladesh War]], a few million refugees poured into Calcutta from the former [[East Pakistan]], and argues that "No one had ever before done anything remotely like Mother Teresa's order, namely picking up destitute and dying people off the pavements and giving them a clean place to die in dignity."<ref>Thekaekara, Mari Marcel (14 September 2016). [https://newint.org/blog/2016/09/14/criticism-of-mother-teresa Thekaekara, Mari Marcel. "Reflections on the harsh criticism of Mother Teresa"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503090347/https://newint.org/blog/2016/09/14/criticism-of-mother-teresa |date=2019-05-03 }}. ''The New Internationalist''.</ref> |
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Mark Woods in ''[[Christian Today]]'' felt that "perhaps just as significant, in terms of her public perception, is the sense among Christians that her critics don't really understand what she was doing. So to criticise her for opposing abortion and contraception, for instance, is to criticise her for not running a secular charity, which she never pretended to do."<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=Mother Teresa and her critics: Should she really be made a saint?|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/mother-teresa-and-her-critics-should-she-really-be-made-a-saint/94365.htm|last=BST|first=Mark Woods Wed 31 Aug 2016 14:40|website=www.christiantoday.com|date=31 August 2016 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2019-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008132444/https://www.christiantoday.com/article/mother-teresa-and-her-critics-should-she-really-be-made-a-saint/94365.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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An article by David Jeffrey, Joseph O'Neill and Gilly Burn in The Lancet responded to Fox and argued that it was disingenuous to single out Mother Teresa's hospices for healthcare limitations that were common to most care facilities in India. They noted Indian healthcare generally suffered from: "1) lack of education of doctors and nurses, 2) few drugs, and 3) very strict state government legislation, which prohibits the use of strong analgesics even to patients dying of cancer". They concluded Mother Teresa's homes were being unfairly held to the standards of "Western-style hospice care{{nbsp}}[...] not relevant to India".<ref>Jeffrey, D., O'Neill, J. and Burn, G., 1994. Mother Teresa's care for the dying. The Lancet, 344(8929), p.1098. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(94)91759-0</ref> |
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== Legacy and depictions in popular culture == |
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According to Mark Woods, writing in ''Christian Today'', "perhaps just as significant, in terms of her public perception, is the sense among Christians that her critics don't really understand what she was doing. So to criticise her for opposing abortion and contraception, for instance, is to criticise her for not running a secular charity, which she never pretended to do."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mother Teresa and her critics: Should she really be made a saint?|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/mother-teresa-and-her-critics-should-she-really-be-made-a-saint/94365.htm|last=BST|first=Mark Woods Wed 31 Aug 2016 14:40|website=www.christiantoday.com|date=31 August 2016 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2019-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008132444/https://www.christiantoday.com/article/mother-teresa-and-her-critics-should-she-really-be-made-a-saint/94365.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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At the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters and an associated brotherhood of 300 members operating 610 missions in 123 countries.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 August 2010 |title=Lights Out for Mother Teresa |url=http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/lights-out-for-mother-teresa/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220160216/http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/lights-out-for-mother-teresa/ |archive-date=20 February 2011 |access-date=25 March 2012 |publisher=Bernardgoldberg.com}}</ref> These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programmes, orphanages and schools. The Missionaries of Charity were aided by co-workers numbering over one million by the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170610215750/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/ |archive-date=10 June 2017 |access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> |
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=== Commemorations === |
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In 2012, William Doino Jr, wrote that "The remarkable thing about ''Hell's Angel'' is that it purports to defend the poor against Mother Teresa's supposed exploitation of them, while never actually interviewing any on screen. Not a single person cared for by the Missionaries speaks on camera. Was this because they had a far higher opinion of Blessed Teresa than Hitchens would permit in his film? Avoiding the people at the heart of Teresa's ministry, Hitchens posed for the camera and let roll a series of ''ad hominem'' attacks and unsubstantiated accusations, as uninformed as they were cruel."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mother Teresa and Her Critics {{!}} William Doino Jr.|url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics|access-date=2021-09-09|website=First Things|date=April 2013 |language=en|archive-date=2019-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505095538/https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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{{Main|Commemorations of Mother Teresa}}[[File:Terminal_jashte.jpg|alt=Airport terminal, with four trees in the foreground|left|thumb|[[Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza]]]] |
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Mother Teresa has been commemorated by museums and named the patroness of a number of churches. She has had buildings, roads and complexes named after her, including [[Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza|Albania's international airport]]. [[Mother Teresa Day]] ({{lang|sq|Dita e Nënë Terezës}}), 5 September, is a [[Public holidays in Albania|public holiday in Albania]]. In 2009, the [[Memorial House of Mother Teresa]] was opened in her hometown of Skopje, [[North Macedonia]]. The [[Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa in Pristina|Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa]] in [[Pristina]], [[Kosovo]], is named in her honour.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |author=Petrit Collaku |date=26 May 2011 |title=Kosovo Muslims Resent New Mother Teresa Statue |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-row-over-mother-teresa-statue |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830061800/http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-row-over-mother-teresa-statue |archive-date=30 August 2017 |access-date=16 December 2014 |publisher=Balkan Insight}}</ref> The demolition of a historic high school building to make way for the new construction initially sparked controversy in the local community, but the high school was later relocated to a new, more spacious campus. Consecrated on 5 September 2017, it became the first cathedral in Mother Teresa's honour and the second extant one in Kosovo.<ref name="jfjpqpvapv">{{cite web |date=5 September 2017 |title=First cathedral for Mother Teresa is consecrated in Kosovo |url=http://religionnews.com/2017/09/05/first-cathedral-for-mother-teresa-is-consecrated-in-kosovo/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906224804/http://religionnews.com/2017/09/05/first-cathedral-for-mother-teresa-is-consecrated-in-kosovo/ |archive-date=6 September 2017 |access-date=6 September 2017}}</ref> |
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[[File:Saint_Mother_Teresa_Cathedral_Prishtina8.jpg|right|thumb|150x150px|[[Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa, Pristina|Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa]], [[Prishtinë]]]] |
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[[Mother Teresa Women's University]],<ref>{{cite web |title=:: Welcome To Mother Teresa Women's University :: |url=http://www.motherteresawomenuniv.ac.in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513072048/http://www.motherteresawomenuniv.ac.in/ |archive-date=13 May 2019 |access-date=1 February 2022}}</ref> in [[Kodaikanal]], was established in 1984 as a public university by the [[government of Tamil Nadu]]. The Mother Teresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother Theresa Post Graduate And Research Institute of Health Sciences, Pondicherry |url=http://mtihs.puducherry.gov.in |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324142422/http://mtihs.puducherry.gov.in/ |archive-date=24 March 2019 |access-date=28 August 2011 |publisher=Mtihs.Pondicherry.gov.in}}</ref> in [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]], was established in 1999 by the government of [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]]. The charitable organisation [[Sevalaya]] runs the [[Sevalaya#Mother Teresa Girls Home|Mother Teresa Girls Home]], providing poor and orphaned girls near the underserved village of Kasuva in Tamil Nadu with free food, clothing, shelter and education.<ref>{{cite web |title=Activities: Children home |url=http://www.sevalaya.org/activities/vivekananda.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101114450/http://www.sevalaya.org/activities/vivekananda.php |archive-date=1 November 2014 |publisher=Sevalaya}}</ref> A number of tributes by Mother Teresa's biographer, Navin Chawla, have appeared in Indian newspapers and magazines.<ref>{{cite web |date=26 August 2006 |title=Memories of Mother Teresa |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/08/26/stories/2006082604071000.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523121959/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/08/26/stories/2006082604071000.htm |archive-date=23 May 2011 |access-date=22 October 2011 |publisher=Hinduonnet.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=15 September 1997 |title=Touch the Poor ... |url=http://india-today.com/itoday/15091997/navin.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903222551/http://india-today.com/itoday/15091997/navin.html |archive-date=3 September 2010 |access-date=24 August 2010 |publisher=India-today.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Navin Chawla |date=11 April 2008 |title=Mission Possible |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Mission+possible/1/6961.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118023543/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Mission+possible/1/6961.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 |access-date=24 August 2010 |publisher=Indiatoday.digitaltoday.in}}</ref> [[Indian Railways]] introduced the "Mother Express", a new train named after Mother Teresa, on 26 August 2010 to commemorate the centenary of her birth.<ref>{{cite web |date=2 August 2010 |title="Mother Express" to be launched on Aug 26 |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/mother-express-to-be-launched-on-aug-26/194494.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812053510/http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/mother-express-to-be-launched-on-aug-26/194494.html |archive-date=12 August 2011 |access-date=5 August 2010 |work=IBN Live}}</ref> The [[Tamil Nadu]] government organised centenary celebrations honouring Mother Teresa on 4 December 2010 in [[Chennai]], headed by chief minister [[M Karunanidhi]].<ref>{{cite news |date=4 December 2010 |title=Centre could have done more for Mother Teresa: Karunanidhi |work=[[The Times of India]] |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-04/india/28234679_1_hand-pulled-rickshaws-m-karunanidhi |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104032937/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-04/india/28234679_1_hand-pulled-rickshaws-m-karunanidhi |archive-date=4 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=5 December 2010 |title=Centenary Celebrations of Mother Teresa |newspaper=The New Indian Express |url=http://newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article166821.ece |url-status=dead |access-date=28 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223013037/http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article166821.ece |archive-date=23 February 2015}}</ref> Beginning on 5 September 2013, the anniversary of her death has been designated the [[International Day of Charity]] by the [[United Nations General Assembly]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Charity contributes to the promotion of dialogue, solidarity and mutual understanding among people. |url=https://www.un.org/en/events/charityday |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711122746/http://www.un.org/en/events/charityday/ |archive-date=11 July 2017 |access-date=29 June 2017 |work=International Day of Charity: 5 September |publisher=United Nations}}</ref> |
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In 2012, Mother Teresa was ranked number 5 in [[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook India's]] poll of [[the Greatest Indian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A Measure Of The Man |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/a-measure-of-the-man/281949 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501020655/https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/a-measure-of-the-man/281949 |archive-date=1 May 2020 |access-date=11 March 2020 |website=OutlookIndia Magazine}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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*[[Prelest#E._Orthodox_views_on_the_lives_of_certain_Catholic_saints|Prelest § Prelest#E. Orthodox views on the lives of certain Catholic saints]] (this is a general Eastern Orthodox critique of unhealthy psychology in some Catholic saints) |
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[[Ave Maria University]] in [[Ave Maria, Florida]] is home to the Mother Teresa Museum. |
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=== Film and literature === |
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==== Documentaries and books ==== |
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* Mother Teresa is the subject of the 1969 documentary film and 1972 book, ''[[Something Beautiful for God]]'', by [[Malcolm Muggeridge]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Muggeridge |first1=Malcolm |url=https://archive.org/details/somethingbeautif00muggrich |title=Something beautiful for God : Mother Teresa of Calcutta |date=1986 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-066043-0 |edition=1st Harper & Row pbk. |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref> The film has been credited with drawing the Western world's attention to Mother Teresa. |
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* [[Christopher Hitchens]]' 1994 documentary, ''[[Hell's Angel (documentary)|Hell's Angel]]'', argues that Mother Teresa urged the poor to accept their fate; the rich are portrayed as favoured by God.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother Teresa Dies |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/09/0905/teresa.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125091810/http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/09/0905/teresa.shtml |archive-date=25 January 2011 |access-date=6 September 2011 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=24 June 2001 |title=Seeker of Souls |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138292,00.html?iid=chix-sphere |url-status=dead |access-date=4 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824071928/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138292,00.html?iid=chix-sphere |archive-date=24 August 2010}}</ref> It was the precursor of Hitchens' essay, ''[[The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice]]''. |
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* ''Mother of The Century'' (2001) and ''Mother Teresa'' (2002) are [[Short film|short]] [[Documentary film|documentary films]], about the life and work of Mother Teresa among the poor of India, directed by Amar Kumar Bhattacharya. They were produced by the [[Films Division of India|Films Division]] of the [[Government of India]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother of the Century |url=https://filmsdivision.org/shop/mother-of-the-century |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182431/https://filmsdivision.org/shop/mother-of-the-century |archive-date=9 July 2021 |access-date=3 July 2021 |website=filmsdivision.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mother Teresa |url=https://filmsdivision.org/shop/mother-teresa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183040/https://filmsdivision.org/shop/mother-teresa |archive-date=9 July 2021 |access-date=3 July 2021 |website=filmsdivision.org}}</ref> |
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* ''[[Mother Teresa: No Greater Love]]'' (2022) is a documentary film featuring unusual access to institutional archives and how her vision to serve Christ among the poor is being implemented through the Missionaries of Charity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mother Teresa: No Greater Love |url=https://www.odeon.co.uk/films/mother-teresa-no-greater-love/HO00003486/ |access-date=15 October 2022 |website=www.odeon.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> |
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==== Dramatic films and television ==== |
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* Mother Teresa appeared in ''[[Bible Ki Kahaniyan]]'', an Indian Christian television series based on the Bible which aired on [[DD National]] during the early 1990s. She introduced some of the episodes, laying down the importance of the Bible's message.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/MxPFyvWSSz4 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210519143415/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPFyvWSSz4 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |title=Bible Ki Kahaniya – Noah's Ark | date=5 December 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxPFyvWSSz4 |access-date=3 July 2021 |publisher=[[Navodaya Studio]] |language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref> |
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* [[Geraldine Chaplin]] played Mother Teresa in ''[[Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor]]'', which received a 1997 Art Film Festival award.<ref>{{cite news |title=Actress draws on convent experience for 'Teresa' role |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/418445934 |url-status=live |access-date=1 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101213653/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/doc/418445934.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=Oct%2005%2C%201997&author=Bart%20Mills.%20Special%20to%20the%20Tribune.&pub=Chicago%20Tribune&edition=&startpage=&desc=ACTRESS%20DRAWS%20ON%20CONVENT%20EXPERIENCE%20FOR%20%60TERESA%27%20ROLE |archive-date=1 January 2018}}</ref> |
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* She was played by [[Olivia Hussey]] in a 2003 Italian television miniseries, ''[[Mother Teresa of Calcutta (film)|Mother Teresa of Calcutta]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Greydanus |first1=Steven D. |title=Mother Teresa (2003) {{!}} Decent Films – SDG Reviews |url=http://decentfilms.com/reviews/motherteresa2003#continued |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122929/http://decentfilms.com/reviews/motherteresa2003#continued |archive-date=25 July 2018 |access-date=17 December 2016 |website=Decent Films}}</ref> Re-released in 2007, it received a [[CAMIE Awards|CAMIE award]].<ref>{{cite web |date=6 July 2007 |title=CAMIE awards |url=http://www.camie.org/?c=events/2007_camies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706151020/http://www.camie.org/?c=events%2F2007_camies |archive-date=6 July 2007 |access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref> |
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* Mother Teresa was played by [[Juliet Stevenson]] in the 2014 film ''[[The Letters (2014 film)|The Letters]]'', which was based on her letters to Vatican priest [[Celeste van Exem]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schager |first1=Nick |date=4 December 2015 |title=Film Review: 'The Letters' |url=https://www.variety.com/2015/film/reviews/the-letters-review-mother-teresa-biopic-1201653147 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221232847/http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/the-letters-review-mother-teresa-biopic-1201653147/ |archive-date=21 December 2016 |access-date=21 December 2016 |website=Variety}}</ref> |
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* Mother Teresa, played by Cara Francis the FantasyGrandma, rap battled [[Sigmund Freud]] in [[Epic Rap Battles of History]], a comedy rap [[YouTube]] series created by [[Nice Peter]] and [[Epic Lloyd]]. The rap was released on YouTube 22 September 2019.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/GoPn-YVAW8I Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190922170854/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoPn-YVAW8I&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |last1=Battles of History |first1=Epic Rap |date=22 September 2019 |title=Mother Teresa vs Sigmund Freud. Epic Rap Battles of History |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoPn-YVAW8I |access-date=5 November 2019 |website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> |
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* In the 2020 animated film ''[[Soul (2020 film)|Soul]]'', Mother Teresa briefly appears as one of 22's past mentors. |
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==== Theatre ==== |
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* ''[[Teresa, la Obra en Musical]]'' is a 2004 Argentine musical based on the life of Mother Teresa |
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== References == |
== References == |
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== Further reading == |
== Further reading == |
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* Doino, William Jr. "[http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics Mother Teresa and Her Critics]". ''First Things'' 2013. |
* Doino, William Jr. "[http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2013/04/mother-teresa-and-her-critics Mother Teresa and Her Critics]". ''First Things'' 2013. |
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* Prashad, Vijay. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080724153535/http://www.cpa.org.au/amrarch/40vp.html Mother Teresa: A Communist View]". ''Australian Marxist Review'' 40 (1998); previously published in ''Political Affairs''. |
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* Warner, Sally. ''Mother Teresa: The Genius of Calcutta''. New Delhi: Pranoti, 2003. {{ISBN|9788190178105}}. |
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* Akande, Zainab. "[http://mic.com/articles/28746/mother-teresa-not-a-saint-new-study-suggests-she-was-a-fraud Mother Teresa Not a Saint: New Study Suggests She Was a Fraud]". ''Mic.com''. 2013. |
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* Dicker, Ron. "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/mother-teresa-myth_n_2805697.html Mother Teresa Humanitarian Image A 'Myth,' New Study Says]". ''Huffington Post''. 4 March 2013. |
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* Hitchens, Christopher. "[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html Mommie Dearest]". ''Slate''. October 2013. |
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* Taylor, Adam. "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/25/why-to-many-critics-mother-teresa-is-still-no-saint Why Mother Teresa is still no saint to many of her critics]". ''The Washington Post''. September 1, 2016 |
* Taylor, Adam. "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/25/why-to-many-critics-mother-teresa-is-still-no-saint Why Mother Teresa is still no saint to many of her critics]". ''The Washington Post''. September 1, 2016 |
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* Thomas, Prince Mathews. "[https://www.forbes.com/2010/08/10/forbes-india-mother-teresa-charity-critical-public-review.html Pointing Fingers At Mother Teresa's Heirs]". ''Forbes''. 10 August 2010. |
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* Varagur, Krithika "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/krithika-varagur/mother-teresa-was-no-saint_b_9470988.html Mother Teresa Was No Saint]". ''Huffington Post''. Mar 18, 2016. |
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[[Category:Mother Teresa]] |
[[Category:Mother Teresa]] |
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[[Category:Criticism of individuals|Teresa, Mother]] |
[[Category:Criticism of individuals|Teresa, Mother]] |
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[[Category:Philanthropy of individuals]] |
[[Category:Philanthropy of individuals]] |
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[[Category:Public image by individuals]] |
Latest revision as of 05:08, 28 July 2024
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Mutter_Teresa_von_Kalkutta.jpg/220px-Mutter_Teresa_von_Kalkutta.jpg)
Catholic nun and missionary Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, commonly known as Mother Teresa and known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta since 2016, has a complicated public image. She has been widely admired by many for her charitable work, which led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace".[1] During her life she was highly celebrated, receiving multiple awards and honorary degrees, as well as consistently ranking as one of the world's most admired people. She is also venerated by many Catholics who consider her a saint and ask for her intercession.
She has also been subject to criticism, including objections to the quality of the medical care which she provided, suggestions that some deathbed baptisms constituted forced conversions, and alleged links to colonialism and racism and alleged relationships with questionable public figures.
These criticisms have been rebutted by some commentators, with a notable theme being the claim that critics do not understand her motivations and that she is being unfairly held to Western standards.[2][3]
Recognition and reception
In India
From the Indian government, under the name of Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa was issued a diplomatic passport.[4] She received the Padma Shri in 1962 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1969.[5] She later received other Indian awards, including the Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian award) in 1980.[6] Mother Teresa's official biography, by Navin Chawla, was published in 1992.[7] In Calcutta, she is worshipped as a deity by some Hindus.[8]
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, the government of India issued a special ₹5 coin (the amount of money Mother Teresa had when she arrived in India) on 28 August 2010. President Pratibha Patil said, "Clad in a white sari with a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many—namely, the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families."[9]
Internationally
Mother Teresa received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia, in 1962. According to its citation, "The Board of Trustees recognises her merciful cognisance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation".[10] By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa was an international celebrity. She had been catapulted to fame via Malcolm Muggeridge's 1969 BBC documentary, Something Beautiful for God, before he released a 1971 book of the same name.[11] Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time.[12] During filming, footage shot in poor lighting (particularly at the Home for the Dying) was thought unlikely to be usable by the crew; the crew had been using new, untested photographic film. In England, the footage was found to be extremely well-lit and Muggeridge called it a miracle of "divine light" from Teresa.[13] Other crew members said that it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film.[14] Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.[15]
Around this time, the Catholic world began to honour Mother Teresa publicly. Pope Paul VI gave her the inaugural Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, commending her work with the poor, her display of Christian charity and her efforts for peace.[16] She received the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976.[17]
She was honoured by governments and civilian organisations and appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1982 "for service to the community of Australia and humanity at large".[18] The United Kingdom and the United States bestowed a number of awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983 and honorary citizenship of the United States on 16 November 1996.[19] Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland gave her the Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994,[20] but her acceptance of this and the Haitian Legion of Honour was controversial. Mother Teresa was criticised for implicitly supporting the Duvaliers and corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell; she wrote to the judge of Keating's trial requesting clemency.[20][21]
Universities in India and the West granted her honorary degrees.[20] Other civilian awards included the Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978)[22] and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975).[23] In April 1976, Mother Teresa visited the University of Scranton in northeastern Pennsylvania, where she received the La Storta Medal for Human Service from university president William J. Byron.[24] She challenged an audience of 4,500 to "know poor people in your own home and local neighbourhood", feeding others or simply spreading joy and love.[25] Mother Teresa continued: "The poor will help us grow in sanctity, for they are Christ in the guise of distress".[24] In August 1987, Mother Teresa received an honorary doctor of social science degree from the university in recognition of her service and her ministry to help the destitute and sick.[26] She spoke to over 4,000 students and members of the Diocese of Scranton[27] about her service to the "poorest of the poor", telling them to "do small things with great love".[28]
During her lifetime, Mother Teresa was among the top 10 women in the annual Gallup's most admired man and woman poll 18 times, finishing first several times in the 1980s and 1990s.[29] In 1999 she headed Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century,[30] out-polling all other volunteered answers by a wide margin. She was first in all major demographic categories except the very young.[30][31]
Nobel Peace Prize
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In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace".[32] She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet for laureates, asking that its $192,000 cost be given to the poor in India.[33]
Sainthood
Mother Teresa is a saint in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis canonised her at a ceremony on 4 September 2016 in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Tens of thousands of people witnessed the ceremony, including 15 government delegations and 1,500 homeless people from across Italy.[34][35] It was televised live on the Vatican channel and streamed online; Skopje, Mother Teresa's hometown, announced a week-long celebration of her canonisation.[34] In India, a special Mass was celebrated by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.[35]
Chatterjee, Hitchens, and Ali
Three prominent authors, Aroup Chatterjee, Christopher Hitchens, and Tariq Ali, have criticized Mother Teresa.
Aroup Chatterjee, an Indian author and physician, who briefly worked in one of Mother Teresa's homes, investigated the practices of Teresa's order. In 1994, two British journalists, Christopher Hitchens and Tariq Ali, produced a highly critical British Channel 4 documentary, Hell's Angel, based on Chatterjee's work. In 2012, William Doino Jr, a Catholic freelance journalist, working for Inside the Vatican and First Things, wrote "The remarkable thing about Hell's Angel is that it purports to defend the poor against Mother Teresa's supposed exploitation of them, while never actually interviewing any on screen. Not a single person cared for by the Missionaries speaks on camera. Was this because they had a far higher opinion of Blessed Teresa than Hitchens would permit in his film? Avoiding the people at the heart of Teresa's ministry, Hitchens posed for the camera and let roll a series of ''ad hominem'' attacks and unsubstantiated accusations, as uninformed as they were cruel."[36][37][38]
In 1995, Hitchens published The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, a book that repeated many of the accusations in the documentary. Hitchens described Mother Teresa's organisation as a cult that promoted suffering and did not help those in need.[39] Chatterjee published The Final Verdict in 2003, a less polemical work than those of Hitchens and Ali, but equally critical of Teresa's operations.[40] According to Chatterjee, Mother Teresa's comments after Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of civil liberties in 1975 (The Emergency) were criticised by some outside India within the Catholic media.[41] In 2003, after Teresa was beatified by John Paul II, Hitchens continued his criticism, calling her "a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud." He further criticised the Catholic Church for attributing the recovery of a patient to a miracle, and for ignoring the testimony of the patient's doctor, who attributed the recovery of his patient to modern medicine.[42] Chatterjee and Hitchens were called by the Vatican to present evidence against Teresa during her canonisation process.[43]
In Hell's Angel and The Missionary Position, Hitchens leveled criticism at what he perceived to be Mother Teresa's endorsement of Albanian President Enver Hoxha, who in 1967, forcibly closed all religious facilities, including her own faith's Roman Catholic ones and also outlawed private worship. She visited Albania in August 1989, where she was received by Hoxha's widow, Nexhmije, Foreign Minister Reis Malile, Minister of Health Ahmet Kamberi, the Chairman of the People's Assembly Petro Dode, and other state and party officials, subsequently laying a bouquet on Hoxha's grave, and placed a wreath on the statue of Mother Albania.[39][undue weight? – discuss]
Hitchens' allegations of forced baptisms
In The Missionary Position, Hitchens claims that Mother Teresa and her sisters performed forced baptisms; however, this has been disputed. According to Hitchens, Mother Teresa encouraged members of her order to secretly baptise dying patients, without regard to the individual's religion. In his book Susan Shields, a former member of the Missionaries of Charity, states that "Sisters were to ask each person in danger of death if he wanted a 'ticket to heaven'. An affirmative reply was to mean consent to baptism. The sister was then to pretend that she was just cooling the patient's head with a wet cloth, while in fact she was baptising him, saying quietly the necessary words. Secrecy was important so that it would not come to be known that Mother Teresa's sisters were baptising Hindus and Muslims."[44] These allegations, if true, would be a breach of the Missionaries of Charity's constitution which states "it is never lawful for anyone to force others to embrace the Catholic Faith against their conscience".[45]
In a review of Hitchens' book, Murray Kempton has argued that patients were not provided sufficient information to make an informed decision about whether they wanted to be baptised and the theological significance of a Christian baptism.[46] Simon Leys, defending the Missionaries in a letter to the New York Review of Books, argued that baptisms provided by the sisters were either desired by the patient or an expression of "sincere concern and affection", and stated that forced baptism is either beneficial or meaningless.[47] He claimed that this criticism (originating from Christopher Hitchens, a famous atheist and antitheist) stems from anti-Christian sentiment.[47]
Seton Hall University academic Dr Ines Murzaku says that accusations of forced conversion by the Missionaries of Charity are unfounded and are used by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to persecute Indian Christians.[45]
Quality of medical care
In 1994, Robin Fox, then editor of the British medical journal The Lancet, visited the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and described the medical care the patients received as "haphazard".[48] He observed that sisters and volunteers, some of whom had no medical knowledge, frequently made decisions about patient care because of the lack of doctors in the hospice: "There are doctors that call in from time to time," Fox wrote, "but usually the sisters and volunteers (some of whom have medical knowledge) make decisions as best they can."[49] Fox witnessed one patient with high fever being treated with paracetamol and tetracycline, an antibiotic, only to be later diagnosed with malaria by a visiting doctor, who prescribed chloroquine. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for these conditions in the Home, writing, Mother Teresa "prefers providence to planning". Fox also observed that staff either declined to use or lacked access to blood films or "simple algorithms that might help the sisters distinguish" between curable and incurable patients: "Investigations, I was told, are seldom permissible".[49]
Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included "cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and loving kindness", but critiqued the sisters' "spiritual approach" to managing pain: "I was disturbed to learn that the formulary includes no strong analgesics. Along with the neglect of diagnosis, the lack of good analgesia marks Mother Theresa's [sic] approach as clearly separate from the hospice movement. I know which I prefer."[49]
An article by David Jeffrey, Joseph O'Neill, and Gilly Burn in The Lancet responded to Fox, and argued that it was disingenuous to single out Mother Teresa's hospices for healthcare limitations that were common to most care facilities in India. They noted Indian healthcare generally suffered from: "1) lack of education of doctors and nurses, 2) few drugs, and 3) very strict state government legislation, which prohibits the use of strong analgesics even to patients dying of cancer". They concluded Mother Teresa's homes were being unfairly held to the standards of "Western-style hospice care [...] not relevant to India".[2] Additionally, Mother Teresa never set out to set up hospitals or hospices, but rather places for those the hospitals would not accept.[50]
Other criticisms
Mother Teresa died in 1997. Despite her request that all of her writings and correspondences be destroyed, a collection of them was posthumously released to the public in book form.[51]: 13–18 Her writings revealed that she struggled with feelings of disconnectedness,[52] that were in contrast to the strong feelings which she had experienced as a young novice.[53] In her letters Mother Teresa describes a decades-long sense of feeling disconnected from God[54] and lacking the earlier zeal that had characterised her efforts to start the Missionaries of Charity. As a result of this, she was judged by some to have "ceased to believe" and was posthumously criticised for hypocrisy.[55][56][failed verification] Thomas C. Reeves suggests that this criticism displays a basic unfamiliarity with the concept of the "dark night of the soul".[57]
After the Jesuit priest Donald McGuire was convicted of sexually molesting multiple children, Mother Teresa was criticized for defending him and urging that he be reinstated to the ministry after he was initially removed.[58][59]
In 2013, in a comprehensive review[60] covering 96% of the literature on Mother Teresa, a group of Université de Montréal academics reinforced the foregoing criticism, detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, [...] her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce". Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's "hallowed image – which does not stand up to analysis of the facts – was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign" engineered by Catholic BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.[61]
In 2021, Michelle Goldberg, an opinion columnist for The New York Times published a column suggesting that some of Mother Teresa's actions were those of a cult leader.[62]
Mother Teresa was at various points accused of perpetuating colonialism through a white saviour mindset.[63][64][65]
Responses to criticism
In The Hindu, Navin B. Chawla states that Mother Teresa never intended to build hospitals, but to provide a place where those who had been refused admittance "could at least die being comforted and with some dignity." He also counters critics of Mother Teresa by stating that her periodic hospitalizations were instigated by staff members against her wishes, and disputes the claim that she conducted surreptitious baptisms. "Those who are quick to criticise Mother Teresa and her mission, are unable or unwilling to do anything to help with their own hands."[66]
Sister Mary Prema Pierick, the former Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, also stated that Mother Teresa's homes were never intended to be a substitute for hospitals, but rather "homes for those not accepted in the hospital... But if they need hospital care, then we have to take them to the hospital, and we do that." Sister Pierick also contested the claims that Mother Teresa deliberately cultivated suffering, and affirmed her order's goal was to alleviate suffering.[50]
In The Spectator, Melanie McDonagh has noted that Mother Teresa is in large part "criticized for not being what she never set out to be, for not doing things which she never saw as her job. [...] What she wasn't was a head of government. She didn't address the fundamental causes of poverty because she was addressing the symptoms and she did that well," nor were her sisters social workers. McDonagh commented, "She wasn't trying to do anything except treat people at the margins of society as if they were Christ himself."[67]
In New Internationalist, Mari Marcel Thekaekara notes that after the Bangladesh War, a few million refugees poured into Calcutta from the former East Pakistan, and argues that "No one had ever before done anything remotely like Mother Teresa's order, namely picking up destitute and dying people off the pavements and giving them a clean place to die in dignity."[68]
Mark Woods in Christian Today felt that "perhaps just as significant, in terms of her public perception, is the sense among Christians that her critics don't really understand what she was doing. So to criticise her for opposing abortion and contraception, for instance, is to criticise her for not running a secular charity, which she never pretended to do."[3]
Legacy and depictions in popular culture
At the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters and an associated brotherhood of 300 members operating 610 missions in 123 countries.[69] These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programmes, orphanages and schools. The Missionaries of Charity were aided by co-workers numbering over one million by the 1990s.[70]
Commemorations
![Airport terminal, with four trees in the foreground](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Terminal_jashte.jpg/220px-Terminal_jashte.jpg)
Mother Teresa has been commemorated by museums and named the patroness of a number of churches. She has had buildings, roads and complexes named after her, including Albania's international airport. Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Terezës), 5 September, is a public holiday in Albania. In 2009, the Memorial House of Mother Teresa was opened in her hometown of Skopje, North Macedonia. The Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa in Pristina, Kosovo, is named in her honour.[71] The demolition of a historic high school building to make way for the new construction initially sparked controversy in the local community, but the high school was later relocated to a new, more spacious campus. Consecrated on 5 September 2017, it became the first cathedral in Mother Teresa's honour and the second extant one in Kosovo.[72]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Saint_Mother_Teresa_Cathedral_Prishtina8.jpg/150px-Saint_Mother_Teresa_Cathedral_Prishtina8.jpg)
Mother Teresa Women's University,[73] in Kodaikanal, was established in 1984 as a public university by the government of Tamil Nadu. The Mother Teresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences,[74] in Pondicherry, was established in 1999 by the government of Puducherry. The charitable organisation Sevalaya runs the Mother Teresa Girls Home, providing poor and orphaned girls near the underserved village of Kasuva in Tamil Nadu with free food, clothing, shelter and education.[75] A number of tributes by Mother Teresa's biographer, Navin Chawla, have appeared in Indian newspapers and magazines.[76][77][78] Indian Railways introduced the "Mother Express", a new train named after Mother Teresa, on 26 August 2010 to commemorate the centenary of her birth.[79] The Tamil Nadu government organised centenary celebrations honouring Mother Teresa on 4 December 2010 in Chennai, headed by chief minister M Karunanidhi.[80][81] Beginning on 5 September 2013, the anniversary of her death has been designated the International Day of Charity by the United Nations General Assembly.[82]
In 2012, Mother Teresa was ranked number 5 in Outlook India's poll of the Greatest Indian.[83]
Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida is home to the Mother Teresa Museum.
Film and literature
Documentaries and books
- Mother Teresa is the subject of the 1969 documentary film and 1972 book, Something Beautiful for God, by Malcolm Muggeridge.[84] The film has been credited with drawing the Western world's attention to Mother Teresa.
- Christopher Hitchens' 1994 documentary, Hell's Angel, argues that Mother Teresa urged the poor to accept their fate; the rich are portrayed as favoured by God.[85][86] It was the precursor of Hitchens' essay, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.
- Mother of The Century (2001) and Mother Teresa (2002) are short documentary films, about the life and work of Mother Teresa among the poor of India, directed by Amar Kumar Bhattacharya. They were produced by the Films Division of the Government of India.[87][88]
- Mother Teresa: No Greater Love (2022) is a documentary film featuring unusual access to institutional archives and how her vision to serve Christ among the poor is being implemented through the Missionaries of Charity.[89]
Dramatic films and television
- Mother Teresa appeared in Bible Ki Kahaniyan, an Indian Christian television series based on the Bible which aired on DD National during the early 1990s. She introduced some of the episodes, laying down the importance of the Bible's message.[90]
- Geraldine Chaplin played Mother Teresa in Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor, which received a 1997 Art Film Festival award.[91]
- She was played by Olivia Hussey in a 2003 Italian television miniseries, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.[92] Re-released in 2007, it received a CAMIE award.[93]
- Mother Teresa was played by Juliet Stevenson in the 2014 film The Letters, which was based on her letters to Vatican priest Celeste van Exem.[94]
- Mother Teresa, played by Cara Francis the FantasyGrandma, rap battled Sigmund Freud in Epic Rap Battles of History, a comedy rap YouTube series created by Nice Peter and Epic Lloyd. The rap was released on YouTube 22 September 2019.[95]
- In the 2020 animated film Soul, Mother Teresa briefly appears as one of 22's past mentors.
Theatre
- Teresa, la Obra en Musical is a 2004 Argentine musical based on the life of Mother Teresa
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- ^ Schager, Nick (4 December 2015). "Film Review: 'The Letters'". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Battles of History, Epic Rap (22 September 2019). "Mother Teresa vs Sigmund Freud. Epic Rap Battles of History". YouTube. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
Further reading
- Doino, William Jr. "Mother Teresa and Her Critics". First Things 2013.
- Taylor, Adam. "Why Mother Teresa is still no saint to many of her critics". The Washington Post. September 1, 2016