Mother Teresa's Net Worth At The Time Of Her Death May Surprise You

Mother Teresa, whose given name was Anjezë (Agnes) Gonxha Bojaxhiu, founded the Order of Missionaries of Charity which was dedicated to helping the poor. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and is considered one of the 20th century's greatest do-gooders. The Catholic nun was canonized in 2016, nine years after her death, as reported by CNN. She lived a low-key life with not many material goods and took a vow of poverty when she became a nun.

But rumors surrounded the saint upon her death, as The New York Times revealed that maybe the Vatican should have waited to canonize her since her charity was one of the world's richest organizations but hardly ever revealed where the money went or how it was spent. It was also reported that on her watch, her facility was found not to follow protocols such as quarantining tuberculosis patients, and they would not prescribe pain medication. According to the outlet, Mother Teresa believed that agony brought you closer to God.

Upon Mother Teresa's death, it was revealed that she had saved a lot of her money over her lifetime. The icon for compassion was always thought to put others before herself and could often be found helping someone in need or showing no fear when caring for a person with leprosy. But how much truth is there to the rumor she died with a high net worth? Question More reported that, at the time of her death, Mother Teresa could have bankrupted the Vatican if she ever chose to withdraw her money. An Italian journalist named Gianluigi Nuzzi wrote a book entitled The Original Sin, where he claimed Mother Teresa had "by far the most cashed-up account." She evidently was such an important account holder that she had a secret side door at the bank she could enter through.

Nuzzi uncovered accounting slips from secret bank accounts that Mother Teresa held in her charity's name in the problematic Vatican bank. The tell-all concluded that Mother Teresa's cash savings were what kept the spotty institution going. Celebtattler  learned that the nun's net worth exceeded $100 million. But the question being raised is whether it was her own personal net worth, or was it her brand and charity?

Deesha, a popular Indian blog, shared that upon a closer inspection of her Missionary of Charities' funds, it was discovered that the Indian Finance Ministry listed the amount as "classified information," which is odd since Indian law requires charities to disclose how much they earn. Bharata Bharati spoke with a nun who used to work for the charity named Susan Shields, who divulged that at one point, there was $50 million in the charity's bank account in New York City. The lack of answers from the charity has led many to ask a simple question: Why would nuns need so much money?

According to Forbes, Mother Teresa never enjoyed change, and the sisters still live life her way even today. There is no room for technology, and each nun has three changes of clothes. While it seems that Mother Teresa may have died with no money to her actual name, there are still questions about where her cash load disappeared to after she left this earth. Donations have continued to roll in to her charities even after her death, but now believers are starting to question what the money will be used for.