Kolkata to celebrate Mother Teresa's canonisation
The events, which will include quizzes, talks, symposium, art exhibition, walks and cultural show, will be held in the city from Aug 21 to Nov 4.
"As Kolkata is the home of Mother Teresa, it is where she started her social works and was laid to rest, we are going to organize several events to celebrate her canonisation," Archbishop of Kolkata Thomas D'Souza told IBNS.
A civic program, following by a Thanksgiving Holy Eucharist, will be hosted on Oct 2 in Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium, where country's Vice President Hamid Ansari and West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will be present as chief guests.
Several religious leaders, including Cardinals and Bishops, from across the country and general people will join the programme.
"The events of these celebrations not only pay homage to the selfless ‘saint of the gutters’ - who saw the face of the divine in every suffering soul - but also offer an opportunity to make the message of Mother Teresa’s unconditional love an inspiration to all," Thomas D'Souza further said.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government will arrange another event- Homage to St. Teresa of Calcutta- on Nov 4 in the city, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be present.
Besides these, Kolkata's Archbishop, Missionaries of Charity and SIGNIS India (Indian Chapter of World Catholic Association for Communication), in collaboration with WB's Information and Cultural Affairs (I&CA) department, are going to organize the 4th edition of the Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF4) as part of the canonisation celebrations of Mother Teresa.
The MTIFF4 will showcase 26 Indian and foreign films, including three world premieres- Mother Teresa (UK) & Me, Love till it Hurts (India) and MT An Unexpected Encounter (USA), in Kolkata's Nandan movie theatre from Aug 26 to 29.
The four day long film festival will screen several films and documentaries, made on or inspired by Mother Teresa, from different countries, including India, USA, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Canada and Japan.
Mother Teresa was beatified as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" on Oct 19 in 2003 and a second required miracle was credited to her intercession by Pope Francis, in Dec 2015, paving the way for her to be recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
Mother Teresa will be formally declared a saint at the Canonisation Ceremony in Rome's Vatican City on Sept 4.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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