by Nirmala Carvalho

A group of researchers accuse the founder of the Missionaries of Charity of mismanaging large amounts of money and of having "loved" the suffering of the sick, but not curing them. They also accuse the Vatican of exploiting her beatification to bring faithful to the Church. Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, "Her hostels are places of love, in its purest form."

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - A vulgar exercise in defamation intended to tarnish the work of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. This is the reaction of Dr. Pascoal Carvalho, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, to the controversial report issued by a group of Canadian researchers, in which the founder of the Missionaries of Charity is defined as "anything but a saint." The article will be published this month in the journal of religious and scientific studies Religieuses.

According to the authors - Serge Larivee and Genevieve Chenard, Dfrom Montreal University's Department of Educational Sciences, and Carole Senechal, rom the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa - the figure of Mother Teresa is the result of an orchestrated and highly effective media campaign, which has been "generous" in giving prominence to her prayers, but "miserly" in speaking of the millions received by the foundation. The study says that Mother Teresa actually felt it was beautiful to see the poor suffer and preferred glorify the pain of the sick rather than alleviating it. Moreover, the report charges that her hostels have poor hygiene standards and lack food and medicine. The Vatican, says the investigation, overlooked this aspect, proceeding to her beatification to "revitalize the Catholic community and inspire the faithful, at a time when the churches are empty and the authority of the Church is in decline" .

"Mother Teresa - is Dr. Carvalho'se response to AsiaNews commenting on the Canadian study -was always very clear about her mission and was well aware of the criticism. She said: 'We are not social workers, we are contemplatives in the heart of the world, because we touch the body of Christ, 24 hours a day. 'I myself have met Mother Teresa and I went to Nirmal Hriday [the first house open by the Blessed in 1962 in Calcutta, ed]: it is a place where love, in its purest form, is practiced every day."

In the study, Larivee also levels criticism at the Blessed for her "overly dogmatic" view of abortion, contraception and divorce. But Mother Teresa,  notes the Mumbai doctor, was "an ardent and tireless champion of the unborn, according to who the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the small and  innocent, the murder of a mother. 'Human life is sacred, and its dignity and sacredness are part of our Catholic identity. "

 

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