Stuart Derbyshire reviews Gezim Alpion book “Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?” The book is about Mother Teresa and the age of celebrity and posits the thesis that she may have been at home in it and may have used it. Sugary excerpt:
For Alpion, celebrity culture is a modern form of religion and Mother Teresa was the ultimate religious celebrity of the modern era. Unlike the many saints recognised by the Catholic Church, Mother Teresa’s apparent sanctity took root and flourished during her lifetime. Her beatification in 2003, just six years after her death, propelled her further towards actual sainthood. Alpion points out that the beatification of such a contemporary figure was as much a consequence of her growing stardom as it was of her devoted religious practice.
My view on the subject is that celebrity isn't bad it in itself and that in Mother Teresa it was actually useful for it was used for the good of many Poor Indians in Calcutta. A couple of weeks ago, l'abbé Pierre, a French priest, who was very popular, died and it was obvious that his celebrity wasn't allow, that he was not famous for doing nothing and that he actually changed the world in a small way by using his celebrity to keep the focus on the poor and the homeless.
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