Excellency Archbishop Auza,
Mr. Sears, Father Maasburg, Ms Kathryn Spink, Father Jones,
Eminent Speakers who have spoken with such eloquence and passion before me, Excellencies, Colleagues, friends and other distinguished guests

It is my privilege and honor to join all of you at this Conference- the culmination of a weeklong commemoration on Mother Teresa's life and work, to mark the canonization of Mother Teresa by Pope Francis.

The Permanent Mission of India is happy to be associated with these efforts. As we meet today at the UN, where we always talk of peace we need to recall what Mother Teresa had once remarked 'If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other'. Here at the UN where we strive for solutions to the growing threats to peace and security that confront us, the mounting humanitarian challenges that we are facing and our quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals to leave no one behind, it is only appropriate that we ponder upon the enduring validity of her remarks and consider if the legacy of Mother provides a way forward.

Much has been said by the earlier speakers on Mother Teresa and what she stood for. I will therefore confine to say what she meant for us in India. India was her home for almost seven decades of her life; it is therefore no wonder that she is remembered in India and valued as one of our own.

I recall Mother Teresa once said: 'By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world.'

As a multi-religious and pluralistic society with a tradition of peaceful co-existence India's philosophical orientation has for long recognized the principle of 'ekam sat, vipra bahudavadanthi -- the truth is one, the wise call it as many,'

For us in India she personifies the millennial old Indian saying 'yaathum oore; yaavarum kelir' which means 'all the world is our world and all humanity is our kin'

Last Sunday, India's External Affairs Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj led a delegation from different parts of India, with those of different faiths to pay respects to the life of Mother Teresa at the canonization ceremony at the Vatican City. This is reflective of the immense respect, Mother commands in India cutting across all faiths and different social strata.

In India she is remembered as an epitome of compassion; love and service to the poor.

What distinguished her was her focus on those who were suffering and neglected by others, including the terminally ill, the destitute and the marginalized.

As she once said 'What the poor need most is to feel needed, to feel loved. There are remedies and treatments for all kinds of illnesses, but when someone is undesirable, if there are no serving hands and loving hearts, there is no hope for a true cure,'.

This sense of humanity displayed with utmost humility is what truly exemplifies her for Indians. That the world also embraced her in the same spirit is now history. She was bestowed with more than 120 prestigious awards including India's highest award -Bharat Ratna and honors from various countries among them the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979

We in India take immense pride in the recognition accorded to her through the canonization. However, Like Pope Francis said during the ceremony she will always be revered as Mother Teresa even after her canonization as St. Teresa.

For Millions in India, most of whom did not share her faith, Mother Teresa was an anointed saint in her life time itself. A life which we were blessed that she chose to spend so long in India.