Fifty years later, a bishop for nearly thirty years, he would confess with a smile to one of his nieces: «I obey only two people on earth—my sister Augustine and our Holy Father the Pope.» According to a classmate, «Alain was sometimes difficult to deal with, but he put so much thought into what he said, and did everything with such good humor that people would have followed him anywhere, because he was such a leader and organizer.»
Cincuenta años más tarde, después de casi treinta como obispo, confesará sonriendo a una de sus sobrinas: «Sólo obedezco a dos personas en la tierra: a mi hermana Agustina y a nuestro Santo Padre el Papa».