No one has ever been beatified in so short a time as Mother Teresa -
the pope took this final step before official
sainthood just recently, only seven years after her death. And with good
reason. During her lifetime, Mother Teresa was widely revered as the
"saint of the gutters" for her work with the dying and destitute from
India and Rwanda to the Gaza Strip and South Bronx. She did face some
criticism throughout her life, most recently from Christopher Hitchens
and others who argue that by failing to fight the larger institutions
and structures of injustice, she was complicit in their oppression of
the poor in the first place. But perhaps this only means she remained
resolute in her mission to help the individual - leading social change
through her worldwide example.
Find out more! Links:
- A biography on the Nobel Peace Prize site
- Mother Teresa: Angel of Mercy Interactive on CNN
- Mother Teresa in the TIME 100
