Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Quito (Agenzia Fides) – 100 years after the birth of Bishop Leonidas Proaño, the Ecuadorian Bishops' Conference and the entire national community have celebrated this anniversary with great devotion and the commitment to help even the littlest of society learn of the person and work of the "Bishop of the Indians" as he was known. Bishop Proaño was born January 29, 1910 in San Antonio Ibarra and died August 31, 1988 in Quito. Even the National Assembly unanimously paid tribute to the "Bishop of the poor and the Indians," who left behind a legacy to respect the principles of transparency, justice, social equality, and human rights.
The Bishops' Conference of Ecuador has entrusted to Bishop Julio Terán Dutari, Bishop of Ibarra, the task of remembering the person, ministry, and legacy of Bishop Proaño. Bishop Terán Dutari writes: "Among all the merits of Bishop Proaño, I must emphasize its enormous value as Pastor of the Church, perhaps controversial in the past, but now indisputably recognized by all." He cites a statement from Pablo Cardinal Muñoz Vega, his illustrious contemporary, who said: "This is an Ecuadorian and Latin American Bishop of undoubted influence, both inside and outside Church circles."
A Bishop Proaño happened to live the period of change after Vatican II. Bishop Terán Dutari continues: "The Conference of Latin American Bishops in Medellin was a concretization of the Gospel and of Vatican II, in that moment Latin America was experiencing. And its announcement was love for the poor, so that the Risen Christ would work among them, so that from among the poor a new community of faith would arise, of hope for all. This was the secret of Bishop Proaño: to live the richness of a Christian life in community, transforming the sociological poverty, with a true spirit of evangelical poverty ... The route of Bishop Proaño until his death appears to be that of a faithful pastor under the continuous guidance of the Holy Spirit. He faced signs of contradiction and opened roads to discern and keep moving forward. And today, he remains a bright witness for those near and far to remain vigilant in hope before God's work in the history of our peoples."(CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/02/2010)
