Why should Mother Teresa not become a saint?

Answer 1

A:

Most people long for Mother Teresa to become recognised as a saint, even when they no nothing more about her than reputation and information from the Catholic Church, which has exaggerated her achievements. There are two reasons for the Catholic Church to canonise a person as a saint, and it sems that Mother Teresa has failed both of them.

The first reason for canonisation is an exemplary life of suffering or achievement. There is nothing known about the life of Mother Teresa that suggests she suffered for her faith, and the Catholic Church has exaggerated her achievements:

• Mother Teresa travelled first class when flying around the world, which she frequently did. When faced with illness, she sought out and enjoyed the most modern medical treatment in world-renowned clinics in the United States, Europe, and India although the poor in the facilities that the Missionaries of Charity operated could not receive even basic treatment. Mother Teresa dedicated her life to the Church, but this had its limits.
• Mother Teresa is on record as having said that her order fed 4000, 5000, 7000 or 9000 people in Calcutta every day but Aroup Chatterjee, in a Deposition submitted before the committee for beatification of Mother Teresa, stated that her soup kitchens (numbering between two and three) in Calcutta did not feed more than 300 people daily, even as a generous over-estimate.

The second requirement for canonisation is the acceptance by the Church of two miracles resulting from the intercession of the saint. In 2002, as part of the beatification process, the Vatican recognised as a first miracle the healing of a tumour in the abdomen of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, after the application of a locket containing Mother Teresa's picture. Besra said that a beam of light emanated from the picture, curing the cancerous tumour. Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, who told The New York Times he had treated Besra, said that the cyst was not cancer at all but a cyst caused by tuberculosis. He said, "It was not a miracle.... She took medicines for nine months to one year." According to Besra's husband, "My wife was cured by the doctors and not by any miracle. A second miracle will undoubtedly lead to Mother Teresa's canonisation, although even the first miracle is open to doubt at this stage.

Answer 2

Mother Teresa of Calcutta is in the final stages of the canonization process. They need to verify at least one more miracle that occurred through her intercession. I expect her to be canonized within the next year or two.