Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama visited the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun Mother Teresa’s tomb in Kolkata .
The Dalai Lama was on a secret visit to Mother House which houses the nun’s tomb. The tomb is being taken care of by the global order of nuns’ Missionaries of Charity, which Teresa herself set up.
The ethnic Albanian Roman Catholic nun, who dedicated her life to poor, sick and dying in India, died in 1997 at age 87. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 at the Vatican.
Along with her tomb, the Mother House also has Teresa’s room where she worked and slept from 1953 to 1997 and personal effects like her sandals and an enamel dinner bowl.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said he was an admirer of the late nun.
“I am an admirer of late Mother Teresa and previously also you see, I came; I paid my salute, my admiration. At that time you see, also, Mother was no longer there but her followers have been carrying her wish, her spirit,” he said outside the charity’s premises.
He lauded the work that the nuns at the charity were doing, especially taking care of the poor.
Nuns at the charity said the Dalai Lama touched people’s hearts through his visit.
“It was a great surprise that he was coming. He himself desired to pray at Mother’s tomb and he spreads peace with his whole person. It was a very beautiful visit and so spontaneous and everybody was touched by him,” said an in-charge of the Missionaries of Charity, sister Prerna.
—ANI