S/ Peter Nakamura Michiaki, Archbishop of Nagasaki / We name this bell the bell of St. Kateri of Hope.

About 120 people attended a blessing ceremony for a new bell for Urakami Cathedral that was damaged by the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, southwestern Japan.

The church was rebuilt after World War II, but one of the two bell towers had been empty.

A US college professor, whose grandfather was a physician involved in the Manhattan Project for developing nuclear weapons, got to know about the missing bell after meeting a member of the Urakami Cathedral.

The new bell was created with donations from about 600 people after the professor sought cooperation from Catholics in the United States.

S/ James L. Nolan Jr. (62), Professor, Williams College / I think it's wonderful. It's hard to describe. I think it's beautiful, and the bell itself is more beautiful than I even imagined. And that is the hope that the bell will be a symbol of unity and that it will bear the fruits of fostering hope and peace in a world where there's division and war and hurt.

S/ Moriuchi Kojiro (72), Member, Urakami Cathedral / I have nothing but gratitude. I am very thankful. We want people who wish for peace from all over the world to gather at this cathedral.

Urakami Cathedral will have two bells in its twin towers for the first time in 80 years.

Workers began installing the restored bell using a crane.

The twin bells will be rung at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, exactly 80 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.