India (International Christian Concern) According to Christianity Today, India has blocked the Missionaries of Charity, a charity founded by Mother Teresa, from receiving foreign funds to operate in India. This development comes more than a week after the charity was falsely accused of engaging in forced religious conversions.
On Monday, India’s Home Ministry announced that the Missionaries of Charity’s application for renewing it license to receive foreign funds was rejected. This rejection reportedly was made on Christmas.
The only explanation provided by the Home Ministry for the decision was that it came across “adverse inputs” while considering the charity’s application. According to Christianity Today, the Home Ministry did not elaborate further.
Earlier this month, the Missionaries of Charity was put under investigation in Gujarat after several false complaints were made against its shelters. Specifically, the shelters were accused of forcing girls to read the Bible and recite Christian prayers. Missionaries of Charity has denied these allegations as false and an attempt to besmirch the legacy of Mother Teresa.
Missionaries of Charity was founded by Mother Teresa in Kolkata in 1950. The charity now runs hundreds of shelters across India where “the poorest of the poor” receive care.
In recent years, the legacy of Mother Teresa and her works in India have come under assault by radical Hindu nationalists. Nationalists falsely claim Mother Teresa was involved in the fraudulent conversion of India’s poor and desperate to Christianity. These statements and accusations are meant to cast a negative light on Mother Teresa and India’s Christian community.
This article originally appeared here.