During her life, Mother Teresa wrote numerous letters which she asked to be burned upon her death. They were not burned, but have instead been published in the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. These letters show that “for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever.” At one point, she wrote that she had been driven to doubt the existence of God.

This adds a new perspective to Christopher Hitchens’ critiques of Mother Teresa for her hypocrisy in his book The Missionary Position and in numerous articles, such as a 2003 piece on Salon.com and a 1998 interview about his book. (William Donohue of the Catholic League wrote a 1996 response to Hitchens’ book.)