New Delhi: Vice President Hamid Ansari on Sunday said Mother Teresa never admonished her critics, but prayed mercy for them.
“She may have had her critics, but never did she respond with pithy aphorisms or admonitions – her response was to keep on with her works of mercy, helping one person, then another, then another,” Ansari said at an event to celebrate the canonisation of Mother Teresa at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here.
He said if the late Roman Catholic nun thought much about her critics, perhaps it was when she prayed for mercy for them. “Her mission and message have touched not only the poorest of the poor here, but those well beyond India. Today, her words are a message of comfort for countless many across the globe, across all social strata,” Ansari said.
He pointed out that much before her formal canonisation as the Saint Teresa of Calcutta last month, she was already a saint for the people of India. “She was already venerated by millions of Indians, cutting across religious, caste and regional divides,” the Vice President said. Hundreds of sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, besides cardinals and bishops from different parts of the country attended the function on Sunday.