What Was Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton's Relationship Like?

In 1994, Saint Mother Teresa gave a speech on abortion at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., and it has folks curious about her relationship with former first lady Hillary Clinton.

The infamous speech ruffled some feathers because Mother Teresa spoke out against legalized abortion, which was legal in the United States at the time, and President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were seated nearby, per C-SPAN. The Saint's speech resurfaced on the anniversary of the prayer breakfast, and it has people revisiting Hillary's relationship with Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa turned heads at the National Prayer Breakfast when she gave a pro-life speech that received a standing ovation with thunderous applause, except from the Clintons, Vice President Al Gore, and his wife, according to The Institute for Faith and Freedom.

"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want," she said. "This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."

Mother Teresa reportedly discussed the subject of abortion directly with Hillary after the speech, and the former first lady recounted her experience with the Saint while she was running for president back in 2016, per The Associated Press.

“Mother Teresa was unerringly direct," said Hillary. "She disagreed with my views on a woman’s right to choose and told me so."

"I was fortunate enough to know Mother Teresa," said Hillary in 2016. "I was fortunate enough to actually work with her. We didn't agree on everything, but we found Common Ground. She asked me when I was First Lady to get a home for babies started in Washington so mothers who couldn't care for their babies could take their babies to a safe place, and those babies could be adopted. And when Mother Teresa asked you to do something, the only answer was 'Yes, ma'am."

Hillary added that Saint Teresa would contact her from all over the world to ask about the progress on the home.

"She would call me," Hillary said. "She'd call me from India, she'd call me from Vietnam, she called me from everywhere. She'd say, 'Where's my home?' And I'd say, 'Well, mother, working with the Washington, D.C. zoning department requires divine intervention.' And so she did, and we got it done."

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work of taking care of the sick, the poor, and the needy, per the BBC. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, which opened hundreds of orphanages and homes for the poor worldwide.

The Mother Teresa Home for Infant Children was opened in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 1995, per The Washington Post. Mother Teresa visited the home with Hillary after it opened, and she died two years later. Mother Teresa died on Sept. 5, 1997, from a heart attack. She was 87.