Mother Teresa taught virtue of unconditional love: Christian leaders, admirers

Christian leaders and admirers of Mother Teresa on Sunday expressed happiness at her sainthood, saying she spoke the language of love and compassion.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in a tweet said: "We pray for Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother. God bless them with many vocations of girls to serve like her."

"The poor whom she loved are also ours," it said in another tweet.

Pope Francis on Sunday declared Mother Teresa of Calcutta, revered for her work among the poor, a Saint of the Catholic Church.

John Dayal, Secretary General of All India Christian Council, said Mother's sainthood is another honour for the land of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Mother is now officially a Saint of the Catholic Church. She always was the saintly Mother for everyone else. This only adds to the joy of everyone who admired her persona and the lesson in love and compassion she taught us."

"For us in India, the joy is personal. And honour to the land of the Mahatma. We are more blessed for these lives who lived amongst us and served the people," he said.

Former Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, who wrote Mother Teresa's biography, said Mother's work was great and any criticism of her was irrelevant.

"You can imagine that in 1948, when Bengal was still reeling under the terrible after-effects of the terrible famine in which four million people had died, and the partition that came in 1947 and into that she stepped as a single nun, no helper, no companion, no money to speak of. She had just got that call that she must serve God," Chawla told CNN News18.

"Those who criticise Mother Teresa, do they know what is the reality of our streets? Could they spend a few days working in the streets and the slums with their own hands before they criticised her?" he said.

Christian theologian Father Francis Gonsalves appreciated the unconditional love Mother Teresa showered on thousands of destitute and poor.

"The beauty of Mother Teresa is her power of love, unconditional love. She was a messenger who always had something to teach others, not through sermons but through compassion and mercy," he said.

Father Savarimuthu Sankar, of the Archdiocese of Delhi, said: "Mother Teresa taught us the real virtue of love and that we should not give from our abundance but share whatever we have."

--IANS

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