It took two years of research, writing and peer review before three Canadian academics came up with their scathing paper, ‘Les cotes tenebreux de Mere Teresa’ (The Dark Side of Mother Teresa), which has triggered a fresh appraisal of the lady known as the Saint of the Gutters. The study—authored by Professors Serge Larivee and Genevieve Chenard of the University of Montreal along with Carole Senechal of the University of Ott­awa—was published in the March edition of the academic journal, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses. In a telephonic interview with Anirudh Bhattacharyya, one of the authors—Genevieve Chenard, a professor at the University of Montreal’s Department of Psycho Education—discusses the findings:

Where did the idea for this particular study originate? After all, Mother Teresa has been dead for over 15 years.

It was in an ethics class. We were reading for special work. We were discussing altruism and Mother Teresa came up...