In statements to a journalist from the Fides news agency, Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of the Latin Rite Bishops’ Conference of India and Founding Director of “Communio” – an initiative of the Latin Episcopate of India (CCBI) to support dioceses and religious congregations in rural areas – recalls the pastoral activity of Father Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, in India. As Superior General of the Augustinian Fathers, that North American cleric visited the gigantic Asian nation on two occasions, where he is still remembered today as “a simple man” who knew how to adapt to the local context “with an attitude of listening and dialogue”, without ever neglecting “his spirituality rooted in an intense life of prayer”.
