Hillary campaign removes Mother Teresa photo

WASHINGTON: Former US first lady Hillary Clinton has removed a photograph of her with Mother Teresa from a presidential campaign video after a complaint from the late nun's religious order.

"Senator Clinton was proud to have worked with and known Mother Teresa," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. "Her order asked us to remove it from the video, so we did."

The head of a politically conservative Catholic group, Fidelis, said he brought the video to the attention of Sister Nirmala, Teresa's successor at the Superior General of the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity.

Fidelis president Joseph Cella called it "wholly inappropriate, disrespectful and disturbing that Hillary Clinton shamelessly exploited Mother's image as a political tool".

The video advertisement said: "Hillary in effect, was the face of America, in Africa, in India." The original version used the picture as the words "in India" were narrated.

Cella said in a letter to Nirmala: "We pointed out that the use of Blessed Teresa's image was particularly inappropriate and disturbing given Clinton's staunch support of abortion both here in the US and abroad.

"Mother Teresa tirelessly fought to protect unborn children while Hillary Clinton staunchly supports abortion."