Yeah, but that eurekalert.org link is just a regurgitation of the so-called "expose" from Hitchens. There really has been no such information in the legitimate press. As far as I can see, the primary sin that Steve Shaw has uncovered in Mother Teresa is that she was an aged Catholic who espoused the thinking of Catholics of her time. I get annoyed at such thinking, but I don't think it's particularly horrible. My saintly mother-in-law was born about the same time, and had similar annoying ideas - but she was an exemplary mother and grandmother despite her antiquated ideology.

I don't know what interaction Mother Teresa had with the Duvaliers of Haiti, so I can't comment on that. I do know that she wanted to establish a convent in Haiti so she could work with the poor people there. To do that, she had to negotiate with the Duvaliers, and it's quite possible that they said nice things about her.

In my own work with homelessness and criminal justice reform in my county, I've found that I have to negotiate withe people I may not always respect - and I have to be nice to them. To serve the poor, you have to get your hands dirty.

It does appear that the Catholic Church is going back to the practice of declaring sainthood within a relatively short time after the saint's death. Saints are chosen because of the lessons they can teach people. They are far more relevant in their own time, than they are a hundred or two hundred years later.

I think the Pope has canonized enough people to keep the conservatives happy for a while. He's canonized only on my list of favorites John XXIII. I'd like to see him canonize Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Joseph Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago.

It appears to be a fact that the Pope met with Kim Davis, the recalcitrant anti-homosexual county clerk from Kentucky. We don't know the circumstances of the meeting, or what was said - but it's clear that Ms. Kim has put her own "spin" on the encounter.

If I were Pope, I'd meet with Ms. Davis, too. I'd tell her that it is a good and admirable thing for her to have a strict moral code. If she believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, then she should follow that belief very strictly, and she should not ever consider getting married to a woman. But she should understand that other people have different moral codes that they must follow, and she should not interfere with them. She should support them in living their lives the way they believe they are called to live.

I'm guessing the Pope said something very wise to her, but I don't know that we'll ever know what he said to her.

-Joe-