MUMBAI, India – Pope Leo XIV will “inspire and lead,” according to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the emeritus Archbishop of Bombay.

“Pope Leo is a gift of God to the Universal Church. Asia, India all continents and all peoples and cultures,” he told Crux.

Gracias was in Rome during the conclave but was not one of the voting cardinals because he turned 80 last December.

Before becoming the Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, then-Father Robert Francis Prevost was Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine and visited India twice, in 2004 and 2006.

“During one of my meetings with Cardinal Provost, I asked him about his Augustinian formation, and he said, balance of contemplatives and actions,” Gracias told Crux.

The cardinal said young people will take to the new pontiff.

“He will inspire them. Already in the square itself, there were so, so many youths, who were delighted, joyful, and there was a renewed vitality and eagerness and excitement for Pope Leo,” he said.

Gracias referred to the “unbelievable speed at which Pope Leo was elected,” saying it was the work and gift of the Holy Spirit, bringing “a freshness to the Church.”

“He brings hopes, expectations, understanding, openness and missionary thrust. He will inspire and lead,” he said.

He also said Pope Leo XIV will be “a continuation of the style of Francis.”

“While Pope Leo’s papacy will be influenced and referenced by Pope Francis, he will have his own style. We witnessed [on Thursday] the pope coming into the balcony vested, traditional papal garments and I know he will be a bridge,” the cardinal said.

“I have met Pope Leo XIV thrice for long discussions, as Prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops. I found him very open and understanding, with a broad vision of the diversity of peoples and cultures, and above all, a missionary thrust,” he said.

“Also Pope Leo XIV is very intelligent and has a keen capacity to listen, and instantly grasped the spirit of what was being spoken. He had absolute clarity and grasped the situation and context, with the discernment and courage to take decisions and act guided by the Holy Spirit,” Gracias continued.

The cardinal spoke about the pope’s homily on Friday, where the pontiff addressed “practical atheism.”

“He has his pulse on the context in which we live. While, intellectually we say that God is, but we live and behave as if God doesn’t exist [and have] autonomous lives,” he told Crux.

“We see the pope firmly rooted in faith, shaped by St. Augustine – the ‘Doctor of Grace’ – when he says the Church must illuminate ‘dark nights of this world’,” Gracias explained.

“The pope spoke of current settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred – God is no more a factor, and the pope addressed these issues with the entire college of cardinals,” he said.

Gracias also spoke about the name Leo XIV, and how Leo XIII – who was pope 1878 until 1903 – wrote the encyclical Rerum Novarum, “which was a breakthrough, and he understood that the economics was driving the world.”

“Rerum Novarum addressed the social and economic issues and was the foundation for Building a just society – and we know his work in Peru, and his brilliance as a leader and administrator during his two terms as Prior General, he witnessed firsthand the lives of the simple ordinary people. With his global experience, he will be able to respond to the numerous challenges of the papacy,” he said.

“Taking the name of Leo XIV is very symbolic,” Gracias told Crux.