Pascual Domingo Dri (fra Luis) was born in Federación (Entre Ríos, Argentina) on April 17, 1927. At the age of 11, he entered the Minor Seminary of the Capuchin Friars in the ancient Province of Rioplatense, and made his perpetual profession in our Order in 1948. In 1952 he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Montevideo. After several services among the poor, taking care of the communities in which he worked, he realized his vocation as a confessor at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Nueva Pompeya in Buenos Aires. Pope Francis created him a cardinal on July 9, 2023, at the age of 96. As the motto of his coat of arms, he chose Compasivo y misericordioso, in reference to the biblical passage in Joel 2:13: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and of great mercy.”
Just as God is compassionate and merciful, Brother Luis Dri embraced this mission in his life, always seeking to reflect His love through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Mercy and compassion were the highest expressions of his legacy as a pastor: until his last day, he zealously cared for the faithful who approached him, being a true and beloved spiritual father to them.
Brother Luis entered eternal life on the evening of June 30, 2025, at the age of 98, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We entrust his soul to God’s mercy, asking for the grace of his eternal sharing in the glory of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, and we also express gratitude for his life as a Capuchin friar, priest and living witness to the joy of the Risen One that he was able to bestow on so many people as a dispenser of mercy. His witness remains for us as a legacy and a task: let us continue to be passionate about the Gospel and the person of Christ, let us be touched by God’s love in order to be – today and tomorrow – its instruments, witnesses and ministers. May the God of life grant this generous brother of ours the deserved reward for his labors.