Documentary on Mother Teresa released on Platinum Jubilee of Missionaries of Charity

An investigative documentary titled Mother Teresa, Prophet of Compassion, produced by senior journalist Anto Akkara, was released on October 7 at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, eastern India, to mark the 75th anniversary of the congregation’s founding.

In the 53-minute documentary, the journalist-author brings out how Anjezë Gonxha Bojaxhiu, born in present-day North Macedonia in 1910, came to India as a Loreto Sister Teresa, founded the MC congregation in 1950 that has spread to 138 countries with 5,076 nuns serving the poorest of the poor through 754 MC homes.

The multi-award-winning journalist who had an extensive interview with Mother Teresa in 1995 and had pursued the MCs consistently over the last three decades brings out several unheard anecdotal incidents in the prophetic life of the Nobel Peace laureate nun who died in 1997.

Called the “Saint of the Gutters” during her lifetime and canonized by Pope Francis as St. Teresa of Kolkata in 2016, Mother Teresa remains a singular figure in history, her mission of compassionate service to the suffering spread to the farthest corners of the world with unprecedented speed.

The newly released documentary Mother Teresa, Prophet of Compassion captures many significant moments from the life and mission of St. Teresa of Kolkata, offering rare insights into her prophetic journey of faith and service. Some of them include:

- The blue-bordered white cotton saris worn by the Missionaries of Charity nuns are woven by leprosy patients at the Titagarh Centre in Barrackpore, on the outskirts of Kolkata, a facility dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.

- Mother Teresa persuaded the Air Force to plant trees in MC Leprosy home in Delhi.

- She declined Pope John Paul II’s invitation to attend the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver, USA, choosing instead to travel to Borduria in Arunachal Pradesh—India’s remote northeastern state bordering China, Bhutan, and Myanmar, to stop the practice of killing infants born with deformities.

- She organized a raffle to sell the pope's mobile donated to her after the World Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai, western India, in 1964 to raise money to build a leprosy hospital in Shanti Nagar.

- She raised funds for orphans in Kolkata by asking the Nobel Committee to cancel the customary banquet for Nobel laureates and donate the money instead.

- Her enigmatic service has been hailed by former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee, contradict those who spread canards against her.

The documentary has been available on the social media sites of Anto Akkara from October 7th evening.

When asked about the making of Mother Teresa, Prophet of Compassion, Akkara told RVA News, “The Mother Teresa project had been on my mind for a long time. I was blessed to have a comprehensive interview with her in 1995, which was later republished by several outlets and even quoted by Time Magazine during her canonization in 2016.”

Meanwhile, a new statue of St. Teresa of Calcutta was unveiled at the Mother House in the afternoon to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Missionaries of Charity. The event was graced by Archbishop Elias Frank of Calcutta, along with dignitaries and people from all walks of life.

(K. James is a freelancer based in the Philippines who contributes regularly to RVA.)