Episode 02 | Mother Teresa: The Saint’s Secret Ledger

Koji Steven Sakai tunes the “Dead Air” signal to 1997 to pull the world’s most untouchable brand into a South Pasadena garage for an audit. Mother Teresa built a legacy on the “beauty of suffering,” but the receipts tell a different story. From running 14th-century-style plague wards while seeking world-class cardiac care for herself, to her cozy relationships with dictators and a $1.25 million thrift-store scandal, Koji cross-examines the “small pencil” to see if her moral ledger actually balances out.

THE AUDIT TRAIL

Medical Standards & The “Philosophy of Suffering”

The Lancet Report: A medical critique of the “hospice” standards in Calcutta: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(94)92353-1/fulltext
The Scripps Clinic: Details on Mother Teresa’s high-end heart treatments in California: https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/08/world/mother-teresa-is-hospitalized-with-pneumonia-and-heart-illness.html
The “Kiss of Jesus”: The primary critique of her views on pain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Missionary_Position:_Mother_Teresa_in_Theory_and_Practice

The Dictators & The Donors

The Duvalier Connection: Her 1981 visit to Haiti to praise the “Baby Doc” regime: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/mother-teresa-sainthood-charles-keating/
The Keating Letter: The actual letter sent by the prosecutor asking Mother Teresa to return stolen money: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/10/the-fanatic-fraudulent-mother-teresa.html

The Faith Audit

The Crisis of Faith: Her private letters revealing 50 years of feeling “no God”: https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Teresa-Come-My-Light/dp/0307332078
The Monica Besra “Miracle”: The controversial medical evidence behind her canonization: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/20/india.religion

SOUND CREDITS