Thousands of people joined the funeral service of retired Jesuit Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal in central India on April 9, hailing the indigenous Church leader’s simplicity and love for his people. Archbishop Topno died of age-related ail-ments at a Church-run hospital on April 6. He was 94. Topno led the Bhopal archdiocese, based in the Madhya Pradesh state capital, for 13 years until his retirement in 2007. A state-ment from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), a body of Latin rite bishops in India, said the pre-late was known for his “sim-plicity, wisdom, and deep spiri-tual insight.” “He was regarded as a living saint by both the people and the priests in the archdiocese,” said Fr. Maria Stephan, former public relations officer of the archdiocese. “He was extremely supportive, encouraging, and collaborative with his priests,” Stephan told on April 10. “He was so humble and traveled by train in the general compartments like ordinary people, avoiding the air-conditioned coaches,” the priest said. “He never carried money. Sometimes, while traveling long distances for pastoral visits, his driver had to pay for their tea or drinking water,” the priest said.