Virgin Mary and Mother Teresa song wins national selection for Eurovision

The song with which the duo of singer Jerry Heil and rapper Alyona Alyona will go to Eurovision is called "Teresa&Maria". The duo scored 21 points based on the audience and jury voting. This was announced on February 4 based on the results of the audience vote during the live broadcast on the Eurovision Ukraine official YouTube channel.

The track was previously criticized for mentioning a "controversial image of Mother Teresa". The chorus says: "With us are Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary. Barefoot, as if on a razor, they walked on the earth."

Jerry Heil stated that despite the images of Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary in the song, it is not a biographical story. Referring to someone as Mother Teresa means that they are a kind and compassionate person. The song "Teresa & Maria" is filled with these symbols. "I want to emphasize that we are NOT singing about Mother Teresa. She, like the Virgin Mary, was used in this chorus as a symbol," Jerry Heil concluded.

Alyona Alyona claims that the main concept of the song is revealed in the lines: "All saints were once born as humans."

As reported by the UOJ, in 2016, Mother Teresa was canonized in the Vatican.