NEW DELHI (CathNews) — Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity order has said it will pray for the soul of British writer Christopher Hitchens, who aggressively campaigned against its Nobel prize-winning founder, reports AFP in the West Australian.
“We will pray for him and for his family,” spokeswoman Sister Christie told AFP on Friday, upon hearing of Hitchens’ death at the age of 62 after a battle against cancer of the oesophagus.
Asked if Hitchens, an avowed atheist, would welcome such prayers, she declined to comment.
The iconoclastic Hitchens, who enjoyed great success as a columnist, was among the strongest critics of Mother Teresa, calling her “a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud”.
In his 1995 book The Missionary Position and a 1994 documentary called Hell’s Angel, Hitchens accused the nun of being a political opportunist who struck friendships with dictators and corrupt financiers in exchange for donations to her order. He also accused her or contributing to the misery of the poor with her firm opposition to contraception and abortion.
Hitchens was called by the Vatican to argue against her beatification, later saying he was chosen to “represent the devil pro bono”, the AFP report said.