City Celebrates Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday; Group Urges Empire State Building To "Turn On The Lights"

The rally was organized after the skyscraper's owners refused a request by the Catholic League to light the building blue and white, the colors of Mother Teresa's garb.

The owners say lighting the building for Mother Teresa would violate a policy against honoring individual religious figures.

"They've done it in the past for religious figures. They did it for the Salesian Sisters last year, they've done it for Pope John Paul II, they've done it for Cardinal O'Connor. That's a lie," said Catholic League Communications Director Jeff Field.

While peaceful, the large gathering on 34th Street, at times, pitted neighbor respectfully against neighbor.

"The world be a much better place if there were more Mother Teresas," said one supporter.

"People assume she is synonymous with the greatest human that ever lived. Billions of dollars she raised is unaccounted for -- she took money from many awful regimes in Central America," said one opponent.

In response to the building's refusal, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared Thursday a citywide day of service and called on New Yorkers to light their own blue and white candles.