Thomas d'Esterre Roberts (7 March 1893 – 28 February 1976) was an English Jesuit prelate who served as Archbishop of Bombay from 1937 to 1950; in 1946, he left his Indian auxiliary bishop effectively in charge.

[4] Over 100 priests attended and the congregation of over 1000 spilled out into the street for a service which lasted over three hours, a tribute to someone who 2½ years previously was an obscure lower form master at Preston College.

[2][c] He put in place a wide range of social services particularly for the poor, orphans, and prostitutes much of it paid for by fund-raising carried out by the children in response to his appeals to them through The Examiner, many catalogued in From the Bridge.

Roberts, in an address to the Rotary Club, subsequently broadcast on All India Radio, argued that it would not succeed unless the Indian people were solidly behind it, which he was unconvinced was the case.

He travelled a great deal, visiting Jesuit institutions and giving retreats in Scotland, England, Germany, and the USA, including periods on the staff of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, from May 1958 to September 1959 and for another six months in 1960.

These could be done in secret with anonymous witnesses, without the accused being told the charges, without a hearing and with no acknowledgement of any defence; furthermore, those carrying them out could have no training except spiritual[42] and little knowledge or experience of the world outside the religious.

[47] In 1959, when lecturing at Gonzaga University, he took part in an inter-faith conference in the city on peace, fundamental human rights and the morality (or otherwise) of governments involving citizens wholesale in nuclear war.

[g] In it he developed Pope John XXIII's statement on nuclear non-proliferation in his 11 April 1963 encyclical On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty (Pacem in Terris) that " … if any government does not acknowledge the rights of man, or violates them, it not only fails in its duty, but its orders completely lack juridical force.

In a "question and answer" session with the American (Catholic) Pax society (published in their autumn 1964 newsletter, Peace)[52] Roberts said that most bishops on both sides during the recent war justified supporting their governments on grounds of obedience to the authority of the state.

In March 1968 Roberts joined a small group praying outside the American Embassy in London for an end to the Vietnam War and for the right of conscientious objection.

[h] O'Hara also alleged that Roberts had written a letter published in The Universe attacking the English bishops on their implementation of the Pope's wishes on sacred music and the liturgy.

O'Hara then quoted in full a letter from Cardinal Mimmi, Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation for Bishops which said in essence that Roberts should keep silent in future.

Three months later, O'Hara wrote again to tell Roberts that his book Black Popes (published 6 years previously) had been discussed at a plenary session of the Holy Office.

In order to illustrate his case to the Pope, he obtained the opinions of two experienced lawyers, including an authority on criminal libel, as to the likely outcome of a hypothetical referral to the English courts.

Both lawyers independently advised that the actions of Archbishop O'Hara in the letter of May 1960 and the condemnation of passages in Black Popes would, in the English courts, be regarded as defamatory.

[62] In order to forestall mass discussion of the topic at the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII set up a Pontifical Commission on Birth Control in 1963.

Roberts argued from his experience seeing the poverty and malnutrition caused by the population explosion in India on the back of improved medical facilities and the failure of the Indian government's attempt to promote the rhythm method.

He was also conscious of the divergent attitudes to this question taken by Christian missionaries in India from Catholic and Protestant traditions yet the term "natural law" implied something that should be universally recognised.

[69] In 1966, after the end of Vatican II but before the Commission reported, during which there was a feeling in the Catholic laity that there might shortly be a relaxation of the ban on contraception, Roberts wrote Quaker Marriage: A Dialogue between Conscience and Coercion.

[2] In the second period (autumn 1963), Roberts submitted a paper asking for reform in ecclesiastical procedures affecting marriage and divorce which he claimed were cruel and unnecessarily drawn out.

[1] In the third period (autumn 1964), in the session on "The Church in the Modern World", Roberts submitted a shortened version of his Continuum paper and asked for Catholic support for conscientious objection to wars that were immoral.

He disliked fancy lace vestments, likening them to women's underwear, and kept his episcopal ring in his back pocket to discourage people from feeling they were expected to kiss it.

[89] He advised Pope Pius XII against dogmatically defining the Assumption of Mary in 1950[8] and long before Vatican II he was in favour of a relaxation of the ban on cremation,[90] advocated involvement of the laity in church affairs, and associated himself with the Christian anti-racism movement.

[3] He was asked to lead the prayers at an interdenominational CND and Christian Action meeting in Trafalgar Square on Remembrance Sunday, 12 November 1961, but Cardinal Godfrey forbade him from doing so.

[96] In January 1965 Roberts was invited to be principal speaker at a lunch, organised by Foyles booksellers at The Dorchester, to promote the book Objections to Roman Catholicism, which had been published the previous October.

Aware that there was likely to be unfounded criticism of his talk and misrepresentation of what he said he was very careful to stick to facts, particularly when asked directly for his view on the Scottish bishops' statement on the encyclical Humanae Vitae.

Nevertheless, the university chaplain, Fr Ian Gillan, intervened and accused him of publicly insulting the Scottish hierarchy and of encouraging his listeners not to follow their bishops, charges refuted by the chairman of the meeting, Miss Isabel Mageniss.

[100] Despite his being called a "rogue bishop" or a "maverick" by some, others, particularly among the Jesuits, thought highly enough of him to devote the entire March 1973 issue of The Month to a symposium entitled "Tribute to Archbishop Roberts on his 80th Birthday".

As well as some biographical notes on his achievements in Bombay, this included articles discussing and developing his challenging ideas, with one author calling him the 'courageous and inspiring churchman we honour in these pages'.

[32] At his requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, on 8 March, Archbishop Heim, Apostolic Delegate, was chief celebrant and 200 priests concelebrated, including the head of Jesuits in Great Britain.