Mother Teresa was anything but a saint: Study

Mother Teresa was "anything but a saint", says a study conducted by Canadian researchers.

Zeenews Bureau

London: Mother Teresa, who is revered in India and other parts of the world as the messiah of the poor, was "anything but a saint", says a study conducted by Canadian researchers. The controversial study is due to be published later this month in the journal of studies in religion/sciences called Religieuses. It says media played a key role in creating ‘Saint Mother Teresa’ who was not benevolent with her foundation`s wealth in helping the suffering humanity. She was only generous with her prayers, the researchers said. The study even went on to claim that Teresa found it beautiful to see the poor suffer. The researchers also did not spare the Vatican and said it overlooked Teresa’s acts of glorifying the suffering of the sick than just relieving it. The researchers said the Vatican beatified Teresa and then followed it up with her canonization "to revitalise the Church and inspire the faithful especially at a time when churches are empty and the Roman authority is in decline". The researchers - Serge Larivee and Genevieve Chenard from the University of Montreal`s department of psychoeducation, and Carole Senechal of the University of Ottawa`s faculty of education – based their conclusions on published writings about Mother Teresa. They labelled Mother Teresa’s image as hallowed "which does not stand up to analysis of the facts, was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media campaign". The Vatican failed to take into account "her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding ... abortion, contraception, and divorce”.