Hindu nationalist scepticism over Mother Teresa canonisation

Pope Francis will tomorrow declare Mother Teresa of Calcutta a saint in a ceremony in front of thousands in St Peter’s Square, write Anto Akkara and Christopher Lamb. The Albanian nun, one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century, received the Nobel Peace Price in 1979 for her work with those suffering in the slums of India.

Her canonisation takes place almost exactly 19 years after her death on 5 September 1997 and is likely to include delegations from India, Albania and Macedonia, her place of birth.
Mother Teresa’s work with the marginalised is in keeping with Pope Francis’ vision of a Church that helps the poorest in society. Along with her work in the slums, she founded the Missionaries of Charity religious order and developed a network of hospices caring for those with HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and leprosy.

Tomorrow’s canonisation has evoked contrasting reactions from India’s Hindu nationalists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who heads the Hindu nationalist BJP-led Government, in his monthly radio address to the nation on 28 August, hailed the Mother’s “services to the poor of India” and declared that Indians should be proud that Mother Teresa is being officially declared a saint.

Mr Modi’s statement was immediately questioned by the Hindu nationalist VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad – World Hindu Council), which warned that Mother Teresa’s canonisation “portends more conversions” to Christianity and said Mr Modi should have considered this before deciding to send a delegation to the Vatican. The 10-member government delegation led by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will also include Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. “The canonisation of Mother Teresa is an alarm bell that now there would be more conversions in India and more funds [for conversions] would be routed to India,” said the VHP joint general secretary, Surendra Jain.

Following her death, letters revealed that Mother Teresa suffered a crisis of faith for the last 40 years of her life. “As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear,” she wrote in 1979.
(See features, pages 4-8.)