Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay celebrated a special memorial Mass at St John the Evangelist Church in Marol on March 1 in honor of his predecessor, who died 2013 at the age of 93. The parish was the home parish of the late cardinal, and was the place where he was buried after his death. Marol, a suburb of Bombay, was once under Portuguese control and considered a Catholic heart of the city. St John the Evangelist parish was founded in 1579.

Pimenta served as Arch-bishop of Bombay from 1978-1996 and was created a cardinal in 1988 by St John Paul II.

“I wanted to give Cardinal Pimenta a fitting memorial to mark his birth centenary,” Gracias told Crux.

“I worked very closely with Pimenta, and was his close advisor, and we have to honor Pimenta’s pioneering initiative in Raighad. When Pimenta was appointed Archbishop of Bombay, the Catholic Church had no presence in Raighad,” the cardinal said.