Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square in Rome in front of 120 thousand people, official delegations from 15 countries, as well as in front of specially invited 1,500 Italian homeless people, canonized Mother Teresa. Now she has become a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
In this regard, the Federal News Agency (FAN) reminds readers of the most scandalous facts from the biography of Agnes Goce Boyaciu.
At her birth on August 26, 1910, Mother Teresa received the name Agnes Goce Boyagiu. It happened in Skopje, in a wealthy Albanian Catholic family. Her father Nikola Boyadzhiu, originally from Prizren, was an ardent Albanian nationalist, was a member of an underground organization whose goal was "to cleanse Skopje from the Slavs occupiers (meaning the Macedonians, Serbs and Bulgarians) and its annexation to Albania."
Hatred of the Slavs became the reason for Nikola's violent death in 1919 - he was killed during an attack on a Serbian village. His daughter inherited a dislike for the Slavs. Although she was fluent in Serbian and even graduated from a Serbian gymnasium, during her future official visits to Yugoslavia, she always communicated only through an interpreter.
Her attitude towards her hometown, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, is also very peculiar. When on July 26, 1963, an earthquake killed 1,070 people and destroyed 75% of the buildings, Agnes Boyajiu refused to provide Skopje with financial assistance from her monastic order, but publicly blessed the staff of the American military hospital.
The hospital stayed in Skopje for 15 days. As the Macedonians say, the Americans assembled the hospital for 5 days, took a photo session against the background of the ruins for 5 days, and dismantled their camp for 5 days. And now in the Skopje Museum dedicated to the earthquake, dozens of photos showing how the Americans selflessly help the Macedonians.
At the same time, the Soviet Union sent 500 engineering troops to Skopje, who worked there for six months. But only one photo has survived - the Soviet soldiers had no time to be photographed, they saved the lives of the Macedonians who were trapped under the rubble.
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Later, mother Agnes Boyajiu visited Skopje four times and even became its honorary resident. She ceased to be its ordinary resident in 1928, when, after graduating from the gymnasium, she left for Ireland in the monastic order "Sister Loreto". There she learned English, became a nun under the name Teresa, and was sent to the Indian city of Calcutta to teach at the St. Mary's Catholic School.
Further, according to her recollections, in 1946 she had a vision of Jesus Christ, who ordered her to quit school, throw off her monastic clothes, put on the local national dress sari and go to help the poorest and most unfortunate. However, in her other memoirs, she claimed that God came to her regularly, starting at the age of five.
Oddly enough, she managed to enlist the support of the authorities and her immediate Catholic superiors. Under the institution, which Mother Teresa herself called the House for the Dying, the mayor's office allocated to her in 1948 the former temple of the Indian goddess Kali. The staff were 12 nuns of the Sisters of the Missionary of Love order established by Mother Teresa. In 1950, he was supported by the Bishop of Calcutta, Ferdinand Perier, and later he began to act around the globe with the blessing of Pope Paul VI.
Worldwide fame came to her organization in 1969, when, on the instructions of the BBC, journalist Malcolm Muggeridge shot the praising documentary "Something Beautiful for God". But it was not just a laudatory material - the exalted journalist claimed that a miracle happened on the set: there was no lighting in the House for the Dying, but the shooting was a success, because “divine light appeared”.
And although cameraman Ken McMillan later said that he was just the first to use the new Kodak film for night filming, in those days there was no Internet and the cameraman could not shout down the powerful BBC corporation. However, people are always more interested in reading about miracles than about new properties of film.
As a result of powerful PR, the number of nuns of the order approached 5000, more than 500 temples appeared in 121 countries of the world. Hospices, centers for the seriously ill, and social homes began to open everywhere. Although Mother Teresa still called them Homes for the Dying.
What they really are, Mary Loudon, who worked in one of them, told in the documentary "Angel from Hell":
Mary Loudon's words are confirmed by the results of numerous inspections of the Homes for the Dying. It has been repeatedly noted that they practically do not conclude labor contracts with doctors, and all the main work is done by volunteers free of charge, who believed in the myth of Mother Teresa's institutions. Doctors noted non-compliance with hygiene standards, the transfer of diseases from one patient to another, food that was unusable, and the lack of basic pain relievers.
The new saint actually banned painkillers, saying: “There is something beautiful about the way the poor accept their share, how they suffer, like Jesus on the cross. The world gets a lot from suffering. Torment means Jesus is kissing you. As a result, the painful shock became the cause of death for many.
All of the above fit perfectly into her concept of saving the sick. If for normal people the salvation of a sick person means his recovery, for Mother Teresa it meant his conversion to Catholicism and thus salvation from the torments of hell in the afterlife. Therefore, the more the patient suffered, the easier it was to convince him that in order to get rid of suffering, one must become a Catholic and Jesus Christ will help you. The rite of baptism in Homes for the Dying is as simple as everything else: the patient is covered with a wet rag and the appropriate prayer is read. And then, if the patient survives after that, he will tell everyone that it was due to the transition to Catholicism, and if he does not survive, he will not tell anything.
When mother Teresa herself needed medical help, she did not use the services of her own medical institutions, but went to be treated in one of the most expensive clinics in the world in the US state of California. She also did not want to kiss Jesus - the painkillers were used in full.
She also easily changed her position on other issues, if it was beneficial to her. So she was categorically against abortion. In her speech at the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she stated: "The greatest threat to the world today is abortion, because it is outright war, murder, outright killing of a person by his own mother." However, when her friend Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi began the forcible sterilization of the poor, Agnes Boyajiu fully supported the campaign. True, in 1993 she again changed her position and condemned a 14-year-old Irish girl who had an abortion after being raped.
Traveling around the world, Agnes Boyagiu demanded a ban and divorce everywhere, since every marriage is sanctified by God. However, when another friend of hers, Princess Diana, divorced Prince Charles, she announced that "this is the right decision, since love has left the family."
In addition, she demanded a complete ban on all types of contraceptives, and when reminded that they prevent the spread of AIDS, she stated that AIDS is "a just retribution for sexual misconduct." She also hated feminism and urged women to "let men do whatever they are better equipped to do."
The documentary "Something Beautiful for God" was not the only successful image of Agnes Bojagiu as the selfless savior of the disadvantaged.
When an earthquake struck the Indian province of Latour in 1993 and killed 8,000 people and left 5 million homeless, Mother Teresa took the trouble to travel there and pose for photographers in front of the new homes built by other charities. Her monastic order did not allocate any money to the victims and even refused to send their nuns there.
When epidemics broke out in India, Mother Teresa did not help in the fight against them, but she actively took pictures with the sick. And when she later arrived in Rome, the media informed the whole world that she was being quarantined. It was another reminder of her alleged fight against disease.
You can find detailed descriptions of her visit to the Armenian SSR after the earthquake in Spitak, but you cannot find information on how much and to whom the fund allocated money.
Despite the fact that Agnes Boyagiu everywhere called for a modest Christian lifestyle, she herself, during her numerous travels around the world, preferred to travel in personal airplanes and helicopters, and stay in the most fashionable residences.
Thanks to massive propaganda, millions of people believed in the worldwide benefactor of the unfortunate and sent their donations to her order. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Mother Teresa and her order received dozens of awards from various organizations for huge amounts. However, the Nobel laureate did not like to talk about how they are spent. When asked by journalists for an interview, she usually replied: "Communicate better with God."
Thanks to her friendship with Indira Gandhi, her monastic order, registered in India, was freed from any financial control for many years on the pretext of being a large charitable organization. At the same time, when in 1998 a rating of financial aid from organizations in Calcutta was compiled, the Order of the Sisters of a Missionary of Love was not even among the first 200. Mother Teresa herself, when she was awarded the Nobel Prize, lied that 36,000 residents of Calcutta were helped. An inspection by Indian journalists found that there were no more than 700 of them.
The most powerful scandal related to the spending of donations received by Agnes Boyagiu occurred in 1991, when the German magazine Stern, on the basis of documents, published information that only 7% of donations go to the treatment of patients. Huge sums were deposited in the accounts of the Vatican Bank in Rome. Despite the huge sums, no one carried out the modernization of medical centers, no equipment was purchased. Instead, funds were spent on opening new centers around the world, where, under the guise of saving the body, they save the soul by converting it to the Catholic faith. Officially, the entire Nobel Prize for the new saint went to the new centers.
The origin of the donations did not bother Mother Teresa. She calmly accepted money plundered by dictators from their peoples. Moreover, both from pro-American anti-communist dictators and from communist ones.
In 1981, she visited Haiti, ruled by Jean-Claude Duvalier, who had assumed power 10 years earlier at the age of 19 after the death of his dictator father. It seemed that there was good to be said about the situation in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world, where corruption and disease flourish, and where the Duvalier family committed 60 thousand overt and covert political murders. However, Mother Teresa said that nowhere in the world had she seen such closeness between the poor and the head of state.
As a result, she received $ 1.5 million from the Haitian dictator. She clearly liked the Republic of Haiti and its leader, and in 1983 she visited them again. This time, after saying that she was "subdued by Duvalier's love for her people" and that "the people pay him back in full reciprocity," she was awarded the country's highest award - the Order of the Legion of Glory and received another $ 1 million. Mutual love in Haiti ended 3 years later, when the people overthrew their beloved dictator, and he repaid his beloved people by stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from him, fleeing with them to his residence on the French Riviera.
In 1989, she visited the homeland of her ancestors - Albania. She was there at the invitation of the new communist leader Ramiz Alia, who, following the example of Mikhail Gorbachev, decided to carry out democratic reforms in his socialist country. He assumed power four years earlier, after the death of Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania for 40 years.
It is difficult to find a person among government leaders who has great services to the Catholic Church, as well as to all other churches. The first thing he did when he came to power after World War II was the execution of two Catholic bishops and 40 priests. In 1967, the leader of the Albanian communists announced that his country had become the world's first atheist state. In this regard, all churches were closed, including 157 Catholic churches. The clergy are thrown into prisons. For the performance of religious rituals, the death penalty was imposed, and for the individual confession of religion - sending to the camps. The executions of clerics of all faiths continued throughout the entire period of his reign. So, in 1971, when the Catholic priest Stefen Kurti, who was released from prison, baptized the baby, he was shot,parents were sent to camps, and the baby to an orphanage.
But all this did not prevent Nun Teresa from laying a wreath at the grave of Enver Hoxha and saying many praiseworthy words about him. Later, Agnes Boyajiu visited Enver's widow, Nedjmie. About the new leader of Albania, she said that "she is happy for her people, who have such a leader."
The Albanian people did not appreciate their happiness and in 1992 removed Ramiz Aliya from power, and a year later sent him to prison.
In addition to Ramiz, Mother Teresa had mutually beneficial meetings with the communist leaders of Cuba and the GDR - Fidel Castro and Eric Honecker. She also received money from Yasser Arafat, whom she met in Lebanon.
A major sponsor of the Order of the Sisters of a Missionary of Love was also an English lord of Jewish descent and media mogul Robert Maxwell, who stole $ 600 million from the pension fund of his own workers and escaped prison for being killed on a yacht. Another famous donor who benefited Mother Teresa with $ 1.25 million was the American Charles Kitting. Later, when he was put on trial for robbing 23,000 investors in his $ 252 million fund, Mother Teresa sent a letter asking for clemency for the faithful and generous son of the Catholic Church.
In a response letter, Attorney Paul Turley wrote that "the church should not allow itself to be used as a means to calm the conscience of a criminal," and suggested Agnes Boyajiu to return the money received from Kitting to those from whom it was stolen. The answer is silence.
Interestingly, another recipient of Charles Kitting's aid was John McCain, an American senator and great friend of the current Ukrainian government. Perhaps all this helped the generous Catholic to get rid of such a huge embezzlement with only 4.5 years in prison, and now he is back in big American business.
The refusal to return the money stolen from the Americans did not spoil Mother Teresa's relationship with the US authorities. Quite the opposite: along with the Vatican, which honored her with its highest honor - the declaration of a saint, the second state to do so was the United States. In 1996, she became an honorary citizen of the United States, only 3 foreigners received this title before her, and in 1997 she was awarded the highest American award - the Congressional Gold Medal. Officially, such high awards are explained by her charitable activities, but her other services to the United States are certainly not forgotten.
On December 3, 1984, the largest man-made disaster in human history occurred in the Indian city of Bhopal. As a result of the explosion of a container of 60 thousand liters at a chemical plant owned by the American company "Union Carbide", 42 tons of poisonous vapors were released into the air. 4000 people died immediately, another 21 thousand later. The total number of victims is up to 600 thousand people. The cause of the disaster was the savings on safety measures on the part of the chemical company, although Union Carbide stubbornly insisted that this was a sabotage. In addition, the company refused to disclose the name of the poisonous substance for reasons of trade secrecy, which made it difficult for Indian civilian and military doctors. The disregard for the safety of the local population by American business, which led to such dire consequences,could jeopardize not only the chemical company, but also the reputation of the United States in all third world countries.
Measures have been taken. This time, Mother Teresa did not remain indifferent to the tragedy of the Indian people. She arrived in Bhopal accompanied by her many nuns and volunteers. Mother Teresa spoke in public places and explained in her speeches that this is a punishment from God, that one must pray and he will punish the guilty, but now one must forgive. The last word was the main thing in all her speeches. The same was suggested by the nuns and volunteers individually to those to whom they provided their primitive medical care.
This helped prevent anti-American protests from gaining worldwide attention. The American company Union Carbide, which was responsible for this tragedy, was able in 1987, as part of an out-of-court settlement, to pay the victims of the accident $ 470 million in exchange for waiving further legal claims. The investigation into the tragedy lasted 26 years, and only on June 7, 2010, a court in Bhopal sentenced seven Indians who worked at a chemical plant to two years in prison and a fine of $ 2,100. Former plant director American Warren Anderson was acquitted.
Union Carbide made a major donation to the Mother Teresa Order. Of course, for medical assistance, not propaganda.
There is also information that secret financial assistance was provided to the Nicaraguan contras through the organization of Mother Teresa. This is indirectly confirmed by her being awarded the Medal of Freedom by US President Ronald Reagan in 1985.
Exactly 19 years have passed since the death of the founder of the Order of the Sisters of the Missionary of Love and until the moment she became a saint, and this process was not easy. According to the rules of the Catholic Church, in order for a person to be canonized as a saint, he must perform a miracle.
The search for miracles performed by Mother Teresa was entrusted to the Canadian priest Brian Kolodiychuk. He first announced that Monica Besra, a resident of the Indian state of Bengal, had a 17-centimeter malignant tumor in her stomach. On the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa - September 5, 1998, her sister put a medallion with the face of the Holy Mother of God on her stomach, which they touched the body of Mother Teresa on the day of her funeral, and turned to the world righteous woman with a prayer for her recovery. After 8 hours, the tumor disappeared.
Everything was wonderful, in the literal and figurative sense of the word, but then Monica Besra quarreled with her husband, and he told reporters that his wife had not a tumor, but an ovarian cyst, which was cured with drugs, for which he paid a large sum from his pocket, and then took the journalists to the doctors, who still had the relevant medical documents.
Of course, after this scandal, the Vatican's faith in the holiness of the nun, who brought him, according to the most conservative estimates, $ 3 billion and millions of new followers, did not disappear. But in order to preserve decency, a long pause was made in canonization for calming and oblivion.
In 2008, Reverend Kolodiychuk found a new miracle in Brazil, where Marsilio Haddat Andrino had a malignant brain tumor, but after his wife Fernanda began to pray to Mother Teresa, she disappeared. There were no medical documents in this case, which guaranteed against a repetition of the case with Monica Besra.
But then a new scandal broke out. Her letters to her confessor, the Belgian Jesuit priest Henry, and her diaries became public. In them she writes: “I have no faith”, “Heaven is locked”, “They tell me that God loves me, but the dark, cold and empty reality is so strong that nothing touches my soul. Everything inside me is cold as ice."
But the most unexpected was the following entry: “I feel lost. The Lord doesn't love me. God may not be God. Perhaps he is not there”, which is not at all suitable for a nun who constantly claimed that she regularly communicates with Jesus Christ. Of course, this scandal did not affect the decision of the Holy See about the holiness of Agnes Boyajiu, but again they had to take a break.
Thank God (or the devil?), The Vatican finally managed to complete the process of canonization of Mother Teresa and this is commented on by many people.
Among them is the Italian Giorgio Brusco, who personally knew Agnes Boyagiu and is now serving a prison sentence for leading the criminal community, which in his country is called the mafia.
He spoke laconically: "If she is a saint, then I am Jesus Christ."
Author: Vladimir Tulin