I don't know whether the criticism is legit, but you're not making a great case here, tbh. So she was a conservative Catholic — is anyone surprised by that?
Are you saying most conservative Catholics fetishize poverty and suffering as much as Mother Teresa did? That's a harsh wide brush.
If you don't know if the criticism of Mother Teresa is legit, then you can easily find out for yourself by clicking on the link to the wikipedia page I gave you, reading it critically, and looking at the citations. No need to trust me, or ask me to prove to you what's already so well documented.
Montreal - A study conducted by Canadian researchers questions Mother Teresa’s views on the poor’s suffering, the dubious management of money by the Missionaries of Charity, and contends the humanitarian image of Mother Teresa is a media-orchestrated "myth".
The paper published on-line on January 15, 2013, in the Journal "Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses" under the title "Les côtés ténébreux de Mère Teresa” (The dark side of Mother Teresa) is based on the analysis of 287 documents covering 96% of the literature on the life and work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu), the Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity (OMC). The report concludes that the nun’s sacred image and the events leading to her beatification were the result of a well-orchestrated and effective media campaign.
> Are you saying most conservative Catholics fetishize poverty and suffering as much as Mother Teresa did?
I doubt they meant that, but not many have any idea how terrible a person she was:
> “There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion,” Mother Teresa said. “The world gains much from their suffering.”
My point is that he must have meant that, for his argument to make any sense. I agree he probably didn't mean that, and that his argument is nonsense. He admits he didn't even bother researching and evaluating the evidence, then he jumps to an invalid conclusion, that there's nothing shocking about Mother Teresa's behavior, only Christopher Hitchens' criticism of it.
