For decades, the world saw Mother Teresa as a symbol of pure, selfless holiness—the tiny nun in a white sari crowned with the Nobel Peace Prize, whose image carrying the dying in Kolkata defined charity. Yet, beneath the meticulously crafted global myth, a darker, more complex reality existed.
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Mother Teresa’s story forces us to ask a difficult question: Was she a saint who bore the world’s pain, or a carefully managed symbol whose legacy was built on political opportunism, questionable finances, and the glorification of suffering?
The Call Within a Call: From Convent to Slum
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje in 1910. Her world was shaped by the early death of her father and her mother’s faith, which emphasized charity as action. At 18, Agnes left home—a separation that became permanent after Albania fell to Communism—to join the Sisters of Loreto, sailing for India.
For almost 20 years (starting in 1929), she taught geography and religion at St. Mary’s in Entally, Kolkata, living a structured life within the convent walls.
Her life changed in 1946 during a train journey to Darjeeling, where she experienced what she called a “call within a call.” She believed Christ told her to leave the convent’s safety and serve “the poorest of the poor.”
In 1948, she walked out, trading her Loreto habit for the simple white sari with blue stripes worn by the poor. She began her work small: teaching children on the ground with a stick in the dust and tending to the sick with minimal training and supplies.
In 1950, the Vatican formally recognized her new order, the Missionaries of Charity, which included a fourth vow: to give “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.”
In 1952, she opened the Nirmal Hriday (Home of the Pure Heart) in Kalighat, Kolkata. This was not a hospital for cure, but a refuge for the dying taken off the streets. It is estimated that since 1952, over 100,000 people may have taken their last breath there.
The Global Myth: The Nobel and the Media
Mother Teresa’s international fame was solidified not by her decades of work, but by a single media event.
In 1969, British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge filmed the BBC documentary, Something Beautiful for God. When the crew discovered the low-light film stock they used produced a strange brightness, Muggeridge declared it a “miracle,” instantly transforming her into a “saintly” figure. The film and his subsequent book sealed her image as the “saint of the gutters.”
In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Her acceptance speech, however, caused controversy when she chose to focus not on the poor of Kolkata, but on abortion, calling it the “greatest destroyer of peace.” To her critics, this was the Vatican’s doctrine delivered from the world’s most powerful non-political platform.
Political Contradictions and Questionable Finances
As her global reputation soared, so did the financial and political controversies:
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Endorsing Dictators
In 1981, Mother Teresa visited Haiti, which was under the brutal dictatorship of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, a regime responsible for systemic theft, torture, and murder. Standing beside the First Lady, she praised the regime, stating: “I have never seen the poor people being so familiar with their head of state.” This moment was widely seen as a moral blessing for a corrupt regime, which critics called “image laundering.” She never retracted the statement.
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Defending Fraudsters
In the early 1990s, she wrote a letter to a US judge asking for leniency for Charles Keating, a wealthy Catholic businessman and major donor who had been convicted of running one of the biggest financial scams in American history (the Keating Five scandal). Keating’s fraud stole the life savings of thousands of families.
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When the prosecutor, Paul Tally, publicly asked her to demonstrate true Christian charity by returning the stolen money Keating had donated, she never replied or returned the funds.
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Protecting an Abuser
In 1994, after the Jesuit order quietly removed priest Donald Maguire following an accusation of child abuse, a letter surfaced on Missionaries of Charity letterhead carrying Mother Teresa’s name. In the letter, she vouched for her “spiritual advisor,” asking for his ministry to be restored. Maguire returned to ministry and later abused again. He was eventually convicted and died in prison.
The Glorification of Suffering
The most persistent criticism came from volunteers and doctors working inside her homes. Despite millions of dollars in donations flowing into the order—with reports suggesting over $50 million USD was held in just one New York bank account—the conditions remained deliberately substandard:
No Painkillers: Volunteers and medical professionals like the editor of The Lancet, Robin Fox, reported that painkillers (like morphine) were rarely administered, even to those crying in agony.
Reused Materials: Needles and syringes were often quickly rinsed and reused on multiple patients.
Lack of Care: Dr. Jack Prager, a British physician, bluntly stated there was “no real medical care.”
Critics argued that this neglect was rooted in her personal theology: Teresa often taught that “suffering is a gift from God” and a sign that one is “close to Jesus on the cross.” This approach was seen as glorifying suffering rather than alleviating it when the resources were available to do so.
The Paradox: When Mother Teresa herself became ill (suffering from heart problems and infection), she was flown to top clinics in Rome and the United States, where she was fitted with a pacemaker and received the best modern medicine could offer.
The Dark Night of the Soul and Canonization
Mother Teresa died in 1997 at age 87 and was given a rare state funeral in India. The Vatican quickly moved to canonize her, bypassing the normal five-year waiting period. She was beatified in 2003 and declared Saint Teresa of Kolkata in 2016, based on two medical miracles that have been widely disputed by doctors.
Just as the canonization process concluded, a shocking collection of her private letters was published in the book, Come Be My Light (2007). These letters revealed that for nearly 50 years, Mother Teresa felt only “silence” and “emptiness” from God, writing: “The place of God in my soul is blank… I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer.”
- Believers saw this as proof of her extraordinary faith—serving God for decades even when she felt abandoned.
- Critics (like Christopher Hitchens) argued the Church was using the letters to distract the public and reframe her legacy, turning her into a relatable saint who struggled with doubt, rather than addressing the hard questions about money and accountability.
The question of the millions in donations remains officially unanswered, as her order’s financial books were never made public.
Ultimately, the life of Mother Teresa is a paradox: a woman who gave dignity to the dying in the slums, yet defended the powerful; a rescuer who endured a lifelong spiritual vacuum, yet preached of suffering’s beauty; and a global icon who remains both a saint to millions and a warning of the dangers that arise when holiness meets political power.