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Public viewing of Mother Teresa ends
Thousands disappointed on eve of funeral
September 12, 1997
Web posted at: 9:29 a.m. EDT (1329 GMT)CALCUTTA, India (CNN) -- Indian soldiers closed the doors to the church where Mother Teresa was lying in state on Friday, disappointing thousands of faithful who had hoped for a last chance before her funeral to be close to the Roman Catholic nun who had reached out to the poor.
There was a mile-long (1.6 km) line in the streets of Calcutta when soldiers guarding Mother Teresa's corpse shut the doors of St. Thomas Church to begin preparing for the state funeral and burial on Saturday.
The funeral, in an indoor sports stadium, will be attended by 12,000 people including presidents, prime ministers and religious leaders, as well as the impoverished and sick for whom Mother Teresa worked.
About 20 people, upset that they would not be able to see the revered nun's body before it is buried, broke through a security cordon blocking their passage to the church. The group turned back as police pulled their riot batons. No one was hurt.
"We want to see Mother. We want to see Mother," the crowd chanted. Some of the people carried flowers, which they had hoped to place in the church.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports live from Calcutta
Tens of thousands of people have filed past Mother Teresa's body since it was brought to St. Thomas Church on Sunday, two days after her death from a heart attack at 87.
The first step in her state tribute began Thursday morning, when soldiers draped her body in the Indian flag. Since then, high-ranking officers have formed an honor guard in the church.
They will remain until they escort Mother Teresa's body in a closed coffin from the church to the sports stadium, and then to her Missionaries of Charity headquarters for burial.
Workers at the charity made final preparations Friday in a former dining hall that will be Mother Teresa's tomb. A rectangular cement box in which her coffin will be sealed was to be covered with white marble. The room's walls and cement floors were bare.
Correspondent Christiane Amanpour and Reuters contributed to this report.
Mother Teresa special section
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