Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Content has been published claiming that Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa, was in the same "business" as American financier Jeffrey Epstein and that she was involved in child trafficking, selling babies and generating $50-100 million per year for the Vatican.
The content also claims that Mother Teresa had connections with Baby Doc Duvalier, Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell and that, together with Hillary Clinton, she opened an orphanage in Washington, which was quietly closed in 2012.
This content was published on Tuesday (February 3) on Facebook, by pages with the names "Pamphlet.mk","Saraj today","News”And“Top Story".
What's wrong with these claims?
Hibrid.info found that these claims were presented without credible evidence.
Post caption
"Epstein was in the same business as Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa was a child trafficker who sold babies and made between $50 million and $100 million a year for the Vatican.
Teresa's connections include Baby Doc Duvalier (Haitian dictator), Charles Keating (the criminal from the Savings and Loan scandal), and Robert Maxwell (father of Jeffrey Epstein's partner in child trafficking, Ghislaine Maxwell).
There's more: Mother Teresa opened the DC Children's Home with none other than Hillary Clinton. This orphanage quietly closed in 2012."
Content with the same claims was found published in English on Facebook (see here).
Hibrid.info researched each claim separately.
Mother Teresa and Jeffrey Epstein in the same business?
Based on a Biography published on the BBC website, Jeffrey Epstein became involved in the financial sector after connecting with a senior partner at Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns, where he became a partner within four years.
The BBC article states that in 1982, he founded his own financial company, J. Epstein & Co. Further, it states that this company managed client assets worth over $1 billion.
In the same text, it is shown that Epstein's financial activity enabled him to create a large personal fortune, which he reportedly spent on luxury properties, including a mansion in Florida, a ranch in New Mexico and a very large private residence in New York.
"BBC" mentions that in 2003 he made a donation of $30 million to Harvard University and that despite being convicted in 2008, Epstein retained his properties and financial assets even after this period.
While regarding the activity of Mother Teresa, according to published biography on the official website of the organization "NobelPrize.org", she taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta from 1931 to 1948.
In this text on this website, it is written that in 1948, with permission from the leaders, he left the monastery school to devote himself to working with the poorest in the slums of Calcutta.
It is further shown that she then opened an improvised outdoor school for poor children and began her humanitarian work without initial funds, with the help of volunteers and the financial support that came later.
The article mentions that on October 7, 1950, with permission from the Holy See, he founded the order "Missionaries of Charity" (in Albanian "Missionaret e Bamirësisie"), with the mission of caring for people who no one else was helping, and that in 1965 the founded society was declared an "International Religious Family" by decree of Pope Paul VI.
It is also noted that she was honored with several awards, including the "Nobel Peace Prize" (1979).
Based on this data, unlike Epstein, there is no evidence that Mother Teresa was involved in business activities.
Even after researching using the Google search engine, using the words "mother teresa business", no reliable sources were found that prove that her activity was business (see here).
Did Mother Teresa traffic children?
Hibrid.info had previously addressed a similar claim, rating it as "Fake News" (see here). To refute the claim, hibrid.info relied on articles by fact-checkers “Politifact.com” and “Reuters.com” (see here and here).
These articles state that no evidence has been found that Mother Teresa was accused of or involved in child trafficking.
The Reuters article explains that the organization founded by Mother Teresa was embroiled in a child trafficking scandal in 2018, 20 years after her death, when a woman from the Missionaries of Charity was arrested for selling a two-week-old baby (see here).
A Reuters report says that, in the same year, the Indian government had ordered investigations into this organization (see here).
According to an official announcement from the United States Attorney's Office (U.S.A.), Southern District of New York, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged on July 8, 2019, with sex trafficking of minors. The charges alleged that he had lured and recruited underage girls between 2002 and 2005 to sexually exploit and pay them (see here).
Links to controversial figures
Hibrid.info researched using the search engine to find sources that would prove that Mother Teresa had connections with Haitian dictator Baby Doc Duvalier, with Charles Keating, convicted for his role in the savings and loan scandal, and with Robert Maxwell, the father of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Jeffrey Epstein's assistant.
Hibrid.info has found two articles published by "The Economist,”And“VanityFair"where it is proven that she had connections with the aforementioned persons.
In "The Economist" it is mentioned that Mother Teresa had received the "Haitian Legion of Honor" from Baby Doc Duvalier (see here).
Both articles mention that she had received money and a private jet from Charles Keating, which were used for her foundation (see here and here ).
Meanwhile, her connections with Robert Maxwell are also confirmed in these texts (see here and here).
The Economist writes that she was not very careful about the sources of her money. This is because she saw Christ in everyone and believed that they could be saved.
An example is the laying of a wreath on the grave of Enver Hoxha, the former communist leader of Albania (see here).
Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton
Hibrid.info, through "Chat GPT", found an article published in 1995 in the "Los Angeles Time", where it is reported that Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton inaugurated a shelter in Washington DC for women and their newborns, with the aim of preventing abortions (see here).
Meanwhile, according to an article in the "Washington Examiner", it is reported that the center was closed and sold in 2002 in Chevy Chase, D.C. It is not known whether the center carried out many adoptions during its existence.
Hillary Clinton reportedly learned of the center's closure around 2010, through press inquiries and correspondence with her spokesman Philippe Reines. She had expressed concern about the public image through private correspondence with her spokesman Philippe Reines, asking: "Why do we have to follow these things?" (see here)”
The US Department of Justice has released more than three million pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The documents contain references to US President Donald Trump and other powerful figures, including Elon Musk, Bill Clinton and a former White House adviser to former President Barack Obama (see here).
After searching through the Google search engine, no reports from credible sources were found that would prove that Mother Teresa's name is mentioned in these documents (see here).
Analyze:
Allegations that Mother Teresa was in the same "business" as Jeffrey Epstein, trafficking children and generating millions of dollars for the Vatican have been spread by several Facebook pages.
However, research shows that these claims are not based on credible evidence. Mother Teresa's work was humanitarian, had no connection to Epstein's financial business, and the allegations of child trafficking are completely false. The connections with controversial figures, such as Baby Doc Duvalier, Charles Keating, and Robert Maxwell, were only for charitable purposes or formal honors, not criminal collaboration.
Regarding the claim that Mother Teresa collaborated with Hillary Clinton on an orphanage in Washington DC, this center existed and was intended to help women and infants, but there is no evidence that it is linked to criminal activity or trafficking.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info classifies these claims as "Conspiracy Theory".
Reasoning:
"Conspiracy theories" are considered to be informational content that contains a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event or person, presenting it as part or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). The characteristic of these contents is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any reliable evidence.