Pope Leo XIV: "Open-Minded", Germany-Adapted Priest Becomes Bishop in India
Monsignor Patteril has four brothers and two sisters. After finishing school, he joined the Congregation of the Claretians and was ordained a priest in April 1990.
In Germany Most of His Adult Life
He studied pastoral theology at the Pastoral Theological Institute in Freiburg.
In 1999, he became a hospital chaplain in the Diocese of Limburg, which was ruined at the time by Bishop Kamphaus — a figure who was considered anti-Catholic even by German standards.
Hiding his priesthood behind civilian clothes, Monsignor Patteril served as a priest in various parishes in Würzburg, as well as acting as the Procurator of the Würzburg Province of the Claretians.
He served in different bureaucratic roles such as treasurer, fundraiser, and coordinator of international projects, especially linking German donors with missions in India, Africa, and beyond.
"We Do Not Transport a Fixed Image of Faith"
In an interview with the German news agency KNA in 2020, he described his community as very "open-minded" and allegedly "missionary":
"We must adapt to the place where we are and not simply impose our own mentality and theology on the people."
He also said, "We do not transport a fixed image of faith from one country to the next."
As a role model, he cited the fiercely anti-Catholic Claretian bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, who passed away in 2020: "He spent many decades in Brazil, working in the Amazon. He came from Spain, but he was no longer Spanish at all. He was completely integrated into the Amazon region. That is something we are all trying to achieve," said Monsignor Patteril.
What Monsignor Patteril did not mention about his champion: in 1988, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger clashed with Bishop Casaldáliga, a prominent liberation theologian. Ratzinger urged the bishop to abandon certain false doctrines and Marxist elements in his teachings, but Casaldáliga refused.
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