The Empire State Building declined the Catholic League's request to light the building blue and white...

Green/AP...to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa.

The ultra-conservative Catholic League got an unlikely ally Monday in its fight to get the Empire State Building to honor Mother Teresa: City Council Speaker Christine Quin.

Quinn weighed in after building owners denied the Catholic League's request to commemorate the beloved holy woman's 100th birthday with blue and white lights - the colors of her religious order.

"The question of why the building will not be lit is a question that deserves answering," Quinn told The Daily News. "As far as I'm concerned, the answer should be yes."

Quinn, who is openly gay, has often been on opposite sides of the League on issues from gay marriage to whether gays should march in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Quinn said she reached out to the Empire State Building ownership last week after learning from another Council member that the lighting application had been denied.

"We urged them to try to find a way to light the building," said Quinn. "We are all very disappointed."

Asked if the owners gave a reason for refusing the request, Quinn replied, "Not particularly."

Quinn called on the owners to reevaluate their decision and "choose to honor this wonderful woman who has given so much to the world."
She would have been 100 years old on Aug. 26.

Among other things, the saintly nun best known for her work with poor in
Calcutta also opened the first hospice for AIDS patients in Greenwich Village, said Quinn.

"She was voted the most admired woman in the world three years in a row and even won the Nobel Peace Prize," Quinn wrote.

There was no immediate response from the Empire State Building Lighting Partners, which has been hit with thousands of petitions - egged by Donohue and his group - requesting they reverse their decision.

In a statement, an outraged Donohue pointed out that New York's most iconic building lit up its tower in red and yellow lights last year to mark the 60th anniversary of China's Communist Revolution, which installed a regime that murdered millions of its own people.

Mother Teresa was 87 when she died in 1997. She has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, a step before being named a saint. 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/07/2010-06-07_catholic_league_council_speaker_quinn_blast_empire_state_building_over_mother_te.html#ixzz0qDvhFyf1