Mother Teresa of Calcutta: holy or myth?

As we explained in a previous article here from Mega Curioso, in order for a person to be sanctified, he has to go through the canonization process - which involves several steps, including proof that the candidate has performed at least two miracles. For at the end of last year Pope Francis recognized the second miracle performed by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which means that she will soon become holy.

However, even though the missionary is known around the world as “Holy Gutter, ” and was even recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her actions, the Vatican's announcement also sparked much controversy. This is because, while on the one hand many cheered at the news, many others did not like to know that Mother Teresa will be sanctified.

Santa of the Gutters

Mother Teresa - or Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu - is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished missionaries in the world, becoming famous for her charitable work, always grounded in the precepts of Christianity. Before devoting herself to charity, she taught History and Geography in the city of Calcutta until, in 1946, she heard an inner call and declared that she would from then on live among the poor.

She dedicated her life to the underprivileged and founded her first congregation - called “Missionaries of Charity” - in the 1950s in India. Hundreds more were created around the world over the years, and thanks to her actions, Mother Teresa became known as one of the greatest altruists in history and has received millions and millions of dollars in donations to help the needy.

She died at the age of 87 from a cardiac arrest in 1997, and was beatified in 2003 after Pope John Paul II recognized the missionary's first miracle. The second miracle, as we mentioned at the beginning of the story, was recognized in 2015, and both would be associated with the cure of cancer patients.

Controversies

The problem with Mother Teresa's “holiness” is that, despite the regrets, her trajectory is more complex than it seems. Although she had the privilege of being considered a saint still in her life, people who volunteered in her congregations revealed details beyond the sordid that were kept secret for years.

According to reports, congregations were described as squalid and extremely dirty, and were even compared by some with concentration camps. The institutions were run authoritatively and violently, and in 2005 British TV crew captured images of children tied to their beds - and there are reports that beatings were common.

They also say that old machinery and medical equipment were rarely replaced, and even that needles were rinsed in running water and reused until literally blunt, even in countries with a high incidence of HIV. In addition, materials and medicines were stored for months, and often expired drugs were given to patients.

The institutions obeyed Mother Teresa's belief that patients just needed to feel loved - and die in peace with God. Thus, it is not surprising that the mortality rate in their institutions was over 40% or that they were called by doctors "houses for the dying."

In the early 1990s, a German publication revealed that only 7% of all donations made to Mother Teresa's organization went to charity. Detail ... to this day no one knows where all the money went and, according to Nirmala Joshi, the current leader of the congregation, "God is the banker." There are reports that the missions did not even buy food for residents - depending only on food donations.

More controversies

In 2003, a series of letters written by the nun was published and in them Mother Teresa confesses that for decades she suffered from a crisis of faith - something practically unacceptable when we consider the process of canonization. Moreover, another fact that causes discomfort among missionary critics was her alliances with unscrupulous subjects.

While some of the cash donations came from "good Samaritans" concerned about the poor, the largest amount came from the pockets of some of the most evil people on earth, such as the Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, responsible for implanting a government of terror that resulted in the torture and death of tens of thousands of Haitians.

The ends justify the means?

As “wrong” as it may sound, the survival of the most diverse religious groups depends on the number of believers. Therefore, one of the primary functions of missionaries is to establish temples and churches to convert as many people as possible. For in the case of Mother Teresa, who was a stubborn Christian, that was her greatest goal - to earn believers for the Catholic Church.

Thus, some believe that, deep down, the missionary was much more interested in working to expand her beliefs than in helping the poor, and that she - deliberately or not - would have used them to get what she wanted. And in the end, in her own way and regardless of her motivation, she did what she believed was best for the needy.

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