What bad things happened to Mother Teresa?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Great heavens, no, Blessed Mother did very good things her entire life. Even as a child, she was saintly. She started the Missionaries of Charity and was its head for the second half of her life. She has been declared "Blessed" which means that her entire life has been thoroughly examined by the authorities of the Church and been considered exemplary and worthy of imitation.

Answer 2

No, she never knowingly committed any crime.

Most people have nothing but love and respect for Mother Teresa. As with any person of celebrity status, she has her detractors, most of them quite anti-Catholic who dig up half truths and, in many cases, pure fabrications to denigrate her and her work. Many say she did little to help the suffering in the way of providing medications to alleviate their pain. Mother Teresa was not in the business of providing medical care, she made that clear. Her work was to give the dying some comfort and a death with dignity and surrounded by people who loved them. She was not a doctor and could not provide drugs, even if they had been available. India strictly controls all pain medications so that even registered hospitals find them difficult to obtain.

Others claim she went to bat for a priest friend who was abusing boys. Mother Teresa did nothing more that write a letter of support for the man based on information she had received from the person who investigated the case. It was not until long after Mother Teresa's death that the sordid details of the case were discovered.

Some accuse her of being more interested in making Catholic converts that in helping the poor. Mother Teresa had no intentions of evangelizing as she wanted to concentrate her efforts on helping the poorest of the poor. However, Pope John Paul II ordered that she also must evangelize. Having taken a vow of obedience, Mother had no choice but to comply.

There are allegations that she was friends with gangsters and dictators but these charges are not backed up with a single shred of evidence. Of course, if it is on the internet it has to be true, right? It is just another part of the disinformation campaign to discredit a great saint.

Others claim that, while she ignored the suffering of the poor, she sought the best of medical treatment for herself in foreign countries. It just happens that when Mother Teresa suffered a medical emergency, she was traveling abroad. One heart attack occurred while she was visiting the Holy Father in Rome. Another occurred when she was seriously injured in a fall while visiting Mexico. What was she to tell her hosts? "Don't treat me here, put me back on a plane to India so I can receive treatment there." There are many more lies out there. All a person need do is a small bit of research to get at the truth.

Even when Mother Teresa was accused of many of these things while she was alive, she would simply shrug and ignore them. She live the beatitudes and one of them states:

"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Answer 3

It is accepted that Mother Teresa was guilty of a lack of judgement and that she failed to provide even low-cost health care in her hostels, but that is not criminal conduct. To say that Mother Tersa did anything bad or crminal, there must be convincing evidence that she committed a serious crime or shielded others who committed a serious crime.

Such evidence may come in the form of allegations she gave comfort and support to a paedophile priest. Documents said to have been obtained by SF Weekly suggest that Mother Teresa knew one of her favourite priests, Donald McGuire, was removed from ministry for sexually abusing a Bay Area boy in 1993, and that she nevertheless urged that he be returned to work as soon as possible. The priest resumed active ministry, as well as his predatory habits. Eight additional complaints were lodged against him in the coming years by various families, leading to his eventual arrest on sex-abuse charges in 2005. Her actions may or may not have been criminal in themselves, but it appears she aided a criminal in Father McGuire, leading to the suffering of even more innocent young children.

Answer 4

Mother Teresa suffered from recurring bouts with malaria much of her life. She also suffered from three heart attacks, the final one being the cause of her death. She suffered from a broken collar bone caused by a fall.

Answer 5

Mother Teresa was a complex person, known for her saintliness but was also capable of bad. Loyalty can be a good thing, but not when used in support of criminals, as Mother Teresa is reported to have done. Documents said to have been obtained by SF Weekly suggest that Mother Teresa knew one of her favourite priests, Donald McGuire, was removed from ministry for sexually abusing a Bay Area boy in 1993, and that she nevertheless urged that he be returned to work as soon as possible. The priest resumed active ministry, as well as his predatory habits. Eight additional complaints were lodged against him in the coming years by various families, leading to his eventual arrest on sex-abuse charges in 2005. Her actions may or may not have been criminal in themselves, but it appears she aided a criminal in Father McGuire, leading to the suffering of even more innocent young children.

Mother Teresa has also been criticised for befriending dictators and gangsters, allowing them to use her name and reputation for their own personal ends.

Answer 6

Her father was murdered when Mother Teresa was about 8 years old.