Mother Teresa was trying to get converts not to help poor people

Mother Teresa not motivated by the poor

Friday, August 5th, 2016

Mother Teresa was not motivated by altruism in her service to the “poorest of the poor”; her opponents say.

On the ‘near eve’ of her canonisation Hindu fundamentalists claim the impetus for Mother Teresa’s action was an attempt to convert people.

Mother Teresa is due to be made a saint on 4 September at the Vatican.

“They are known for making such baseless statements. This is nothing new,” Bishop Theodore Masceranhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said.

Yogi Adityanath, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Indian Parliament, told a Hindu gathering on June 18, “Mother Teresa was part of a conspiracy for the Christianisation of India.”

“Christianisation has led to separatist movement in parts of northeast India.”

Adityanath’s comments were echoed by another Bharatiya leader, Subramanian Swamy, who says such views were not “isolated.”

However, columnist A.J. Philip pointed out in Indian Currents a Catholic weekly, “Swamy does not know that, for a large section of Indian people, Mother Teresa is already a ‘saint of gutters.’”

While the disparaging comments against Mother Teresa made news headlines, a section of the media — including the New Indian Express — claimed the comments were part of an attempt by the Hindu fundamentalist lobby to dissuade the Indian prime minister from attending the canonization in Rome.

India’s Foreign Minister, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj will lead the Indian government’s delegation to the sainthood ceremony of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, on September 4 in the Vatican.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also been invited by the religious congregation Missionaries of Charity to attend Mother Teresa’s canonisation in Vatican on 4 September.

The decision to canonise her was announced in March by Pope Francis.

He has written the preface to a new book on Mother Teresa entitled “let us love those who are unloved” based on two speeches given by her in 1973.

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