(LifeSiteNews) – Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Elias Frank as Archbishop of Calcutta, one of India’s most prominent Catholic sees, after serving just two years in the Diocese of Asansol.
Frank, 63, was appointed to the post of coadjutor in June. He now formally succeeds Archbishop Thomas D’Souza this month in a jurisdiction with 180,000 Catholics and 55 parishes.
A canon lawyer by training, Frank studied in Rome and served as a professor at the Pontifical Urbaniana University and visiting professor at the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy. He was also a consultor to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and worked on marriage cases at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is the author of a short book titled The Dissolution of Marriage Bond in the Discipline of the Church and Its Application.
Francis had appointed him bishop of Asansol in 2023, a small diocese established in 1997 with about 30,000 Catholics and 17 parishes.
Frank’s public statements have already drawn attention. In his November 2023 address at St. Joseph’s Convent Higher Secondary School in Chittaranjan, published on the school’s website, Frank spoke to the students about the three “important celebrations” of All Saints (and All Souls), the Hindu feasts Deepavali and Kali Puja, and the Sikh festival of Guru Nanak Jayanti.
Quoting Vatican interreligious messages, he prayed for Hindu students and their families to be “filled with peace and happiness” and for the Sikhs to grow in “unity and solidarity.”
Focusing on the school as a place of learning, he said:
I wish to draw your attention to one thing that is fundamental to achieve success in life: it is about peace. We must promote peace, not hatred, not division.
To promote peace we must respect others, no matter what their religion is, what their social status is, no matter what their skin tone or complexion is, no matter what they eat at home. Respecting others means considering them as our brothers and sisters in the human family.
Peace is not possible without protecting our mother earth, he concluded.
He then turned to environmental themes, urging students to recycle, conserve water and electricity, and “protect our mother earth.”
Frank’s language reflects broader Vatican priorities in interreligious dialogue and ecology, highlighted by Francis in documents such as Laudato Si’ and Leo XIV’s address to the UN’s COP30 climate conference.
Leo XIV and episcopal appointments
While the address was centered on themes of fraternity, peace, and ecological responsibility, it did not contain a single mention of Jesus Christ.
Even though Catholics are a small minority in India, this omission contrasts sharply with the traditional role of a bishop as a teacher of the Catholic faith.
Frank’s promotion marks the latest in a line of concerning episcopal appointments by Leo that represent some of the longest-lasting effects of a pontificate.
One of his first appointments was Bishop Michael Pham to the Diocese of San Diego. In July, Pham’s auxiliary, Bishop Ramón Bejarano, offered an “LGBT Pride Mass” in the diocese with his backing.
In July, Leo appointed Fr. Thomas Hennen as bishop of Baker, Oregon. Hennen was involved in drafting pastoral guidelines for persons with same-sex attraction that made no mention of the necessity of chastity.
Before the conclave, Leo XIV was the Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, where – according to The Pillar – he “saw his task as that of identifying men who embodied Pope Francis’ ideals for bishops.”
