On July 25, 2024, Father D’Britto breathed his last at Vasai in Palghar district. He was 81-years-old. A Catholic priest, Father D’Britto passed away at the Holy Spirit Church at Nandakhal in Vasai, a suburb of Mumbai. He was an eminent social worker, environmental activist and Marathi writer, and had also written Subodh Bible, a translation of the Bible into the Marathi language. Father D’Britto had authored over 50 books and was a prolific writer contributing to several Marathi newspapers. When parochial Marathi people narrow the language by binding it to a particular village, caste and religion then they look at Father Dribrito’s abundant and rich writing of the gospel.
Fr Francis D’Britto was born on 4 December 1942. He was trained in the St Pius College in Goregaon in Mumbai and later went on to do his graduation from the University of Pune. He completed the Masters in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome. Later, Father D’Britto joined the Jeevan Darshan Kendra Trust in Vasai as a priest. He also founded the Harit Vasai Sarkshan Samiti and took on the real estate mafia in the Vasai-Virar region. Father D’Britto was awarded the Dnyanoba-Tukaram Puraskar for his literary work.
Many friends of his described him as a humanist and environmentalist who had an organic relationship with this soil and with the environment. He was also painted as very polite, eloquent, and fluent in Marathi language and had immense love for it, was deeply involved with the revolutionary movement.
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