Cardinal Bo, who is also the head of 19 Episcopal Conferences of Asia representing 27 countries, said, “I pray for those who died in the cyclone and express my solidarity to the families of the victims.”

The 71-year-old Cardinal also praised the disaster management efforts of the Indian Government saying, “The timely intervention of the Indian Government has saved thousands of lives. This has been an exemplary disaster management effort in the wake of one of the most severe cyclones in recent times."

"There are many other countries which can learn from the way India used technology and planning to save precious lives and property.” India had evacuated 1.2 million people with the help of thousands of emergency workers and 50,000 volunteers and setting up shelters and makeshift kitchens for the evacuees.

Cardinal Bo – who had visited the Sacred Heart Church Thakurpukur in Kolkata recently and is no stranger to calamities and relief works – said that Sri Lankan and Notre Dame incidents reminded him of “huge tragedies” of pain and sufferings.

When the cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar ten years ago when he was the Archbishop of Yangon. He said some 140,000 lives were lost and over eight lakh people were displaced. India achieved a great milestone in saving human lives from a severe tropical cyclone, he said.

Cardinal Bo, in a recent sermon on ‘Bible and Evangelization,’ applauded the Holy Father’s interest in potentially instituting a super-dicastery dedicated to evangelization in the Roman Curia.

The President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences calls for greater use of the Bible in one’s life and mission, bringing God’s Word to the streets, and following Jesus’ example.