Saint or celebrity? Cult of Mother Teresa faces tough questions [View All]

Saint or celebrity? Cult of Mother Teresa faces tough questions
Phil Reeves reports from Calcutta on a controversial beatification
19 October 2003

Two cities, both former imperial capitals, will today usher the late Mother Teresa along a step on the path to sainthood. One, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic church, will do so with unabashed enthusiasm. The other, her home for 68 years - and the chief beneficiary of her charitable work - will be strangely patchy in its applause.

The beatification of the Albanian nun is the fastest in the Vatican's history. The convents of Rome are packed with pilgrims eager to witness the great event, none of whom doubt the "miracle" that triggered the process.

But Calcutta - or Kolkata, as India's great eastern city is officially known - is different. Questions have arisen about the miracle and there is a certain ambivalence towards the woman known only as Mother. In this poverty-hardened society - inured in the fatalism of Hinduism - she was not seen as especially saintly.

No Calcuttans dispute that she is one of their biggest celebrities. On her death in 1997, she was given a state funeral. A boulevard will soon be named after her, and she is to have a statue. Indians speak admiringly of her as a strong, good person.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=454851

Related discussion:

Doubt over Mother Teresa's miracle

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=111&topic_id=8753