Kochi: When US Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new Pope on Thursday night, a church in Kerala’s Kochi took a trip down memory lane. The new leader of the Catholic Church, who has taken the name of Leo XIV, had visited Kochi twice in the mid-2000s. 

The newly elected pope visited Kochi for the first time in 2004 when he was the superior general of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA), a mendicant religious order of the Catholic Church. The occasion was the ordination of six Augustinian deacons, which took place at St Francis Xavier Church, Kathrikadav, on April 22, 2004. He took part in the holy Mass performed by the late Fr Daniel Acharuparambil, the then archbishop of Verapoly. 

Priests who had the opportunity to interact with Prevost remember him as a ‘simple and calm’ person. “The superior general of the OSA has a term of five years, and he tries to travel to more than 50 countries where the order has a presence. We found an occasion to invite him to the ordination of the Augustinian deacons. He spent two weeks in Kochi, during which he was taken to several tourist spots, including Idukki. A houseboat ride was also arranged for him. He stayed in our seminaries at Edakochi and Aluva. Throughout the visit, he behaved in a jovial manner without any airs,” Fr Francis Kothalath, who was the Fr Superior of the St Augustine’s Seminary, Edakochi, during the visit, told Onmanorama.

Fr Kothalath had another opportunity to meet with the US-born top priest in August 2024 when he visited Rome. “He was elevated as Cardinal by then, but I could feel the same affection and warmth in his behaviour,” Fr Kothalath said. The 80-year-old priest said those in the Augustinian order were hopeful that Cardinal Prevost would become the next pontiff. 

Two years after his first visit, Prevost returned to Kochi to attend the OSA’s Asia-Pacific meet held at Aluva in October 2016. Fr Wilson Injarapu, the current president of the OSA in the Asia-Pacific Region, remembered interacting with Prevost during the 2006 visit. It was the year when Fr Wilson joined the seminary. During the second visit, Fr Prevost performed holy Mass at the Mary Queen Help of Christians Church, Mariyapuram near Aluva. He also visited St Thomas’ Latin Church at Thalappuzha in Wayanad on October 6 and 7 in 2006.

Fr Wilson met Cardinal Prevost in February 2024 in Rome. “He came to the OSA Generalate and spent some time with us. He not only ate food with us but also served us. He recollected his visit to Kerala and asked us about the church’s state of affairs in the state now,” he said. 

Aged 69 and originally from Chicago, Prevost has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru and became a cardinal only in 2023. Leo was elected the 267th Catholic pope after Pope Francis passed away last month.