Mother Teresa To Be Declared A Saint After Pope Francis Authenticated A Second Miracle Involving Curing A Man With Brain Tumours To Her Intercession

It is extremely laughable the leeway allowed religion in human society, to peddle legendary amounts of bullsh*t- legitimised by the centuries of unrivalled authority which it held- authority that proved to be bad for women, non religious people, and ‘other’ religious people, all through the history of man.

The history of the Roman Church especially is very clear in this regard.

Churches get tax exemptions, there are exceptions in many countries worldwide for religious people to refuse treatment for their kids if it goes against their sincerely held beliefs. Criticising religion gets people offended deeply to their core, and in the countries where they wouldn’t plain up murder you for your blasphemy, you face social ostracisation or being branded racist or Islamophobic.

Yet we’re talking about a matter of opinion here. Because that’s all religion ever is, one man’s opinion against the other. That’s why there are so many religions the world over, and thousands in the history of man. Yet if I say I wouldn’t pay my taxes because I do not believe in government, I would probably end up in jail. But I could open a church, like our lady of perpetual exemption– and I wouldn’t have to because, God.

I digress. The venerable Mother Teresa, one of the best examples the Catholic Church has of a devout person who dedicated their entire lives to helping others, is set to be declared a saint next year. This is because a miracle attributed to her intercession has been ‘proven’, and thus she qualifies for the two miracle threshold where a figure becomes a saint.

The BBC reports:

Pope Francis has recognised a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, clearing the way for the Roman Catholic nun to be declared a saint next year.

The miracle involved the healing of a Brazilian man with several brain tumours in 2008, the Vatican said.

Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified – the first step towards sainthood – in 2003.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor in the slums of the Indian city of Kolkata (Calcutta).

“The Holy Father has authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to proclaim the decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of blessed Mother Teresa,” the Vatican said on Friday.

She is expected to be canonised in Rome in September.

Beatification by the Catholic Church requires one miracle, while the process of becoming recognised as a saint requires proof of at least two miracles.

Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003 after Pope John Paul II accepted as authentic a miracle attributed to her.

He judged that the curing of an Indian woman suffering from an abdominal tumour was the result of the supernatural intervention of the late Mother Teresa – a claim challenged by Indian rationalists.

 

So a committee is set up to investigate the authenticity of a miracle attributed to a figure, and then the Pope declares the miracle as either authentic or inauthentic. One gets you beatified, two gets you a sainthood.

Which is why I opened with a long rant on the bullsh*t of religions. Everybody knows we are talking about an issue of faith, so why the pretence of rationally verifying the ‘miracle’ before the sainthood? It has never stopped religious authorities from making outlandish claims in the past, has it? As such attempts to prove the appearance of a red substance in a communion wafer was a miracle showed, these incidents are more often than not simply made up, or point towards a more rational explanation.

Besides, all you require for sainthood is two miracles? Two? Teresa died in 1997, and since then God has only bothered to answer prayers made in her name twice? I presume the world’s billion Catholics send millions of such request per day! Two?

You see, in no other field of endeavour would such blatant bull be accepted. You wouldn’t get hired in any job if your rate of success was as low as Teresa’s, or God’s for that matter. Yet under the cloak of ‘belief’, they continue to be venerated.

You know, the Catholic Church, and religions in general- have never cared for the blasphemous opinions of science. This attempt to ‘prove’ these miracles is a very lame attempt to lend some sophistication to a process that is very out of place in this age of science and reason.

Faith does not require proof, that’s why it’s called faith.