Bernardin Gantin
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (1984–98) | |
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Coat of arms |
Styles of Bernardin Gantin | ||
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Reference style His Eminence | | |
Spoken style | Your Eminence | |
Informal style | Cardinal | |
See | Palestrina (suburbicarian) |
Bernardin Gantin (8 May 1922 – 13 May 2008) was a
Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1977, Pope John Paul II promoted him to the rank of cardinal bishop in 1986, and his peers elected him dean, the highest office in the College of Cardinals, in 1993. He retired to Benin when he turned 80.
Early career
Bernadin Gantin was born in Toffo, French Dahomey (now Benin), on 8 May 1922. His name means "tree of iron" (gan, iron and tin, tree ). His father was a railway worker.[1] He entered the minor seminary in Ouidah at age fourteen and was ordained to the priesthood on 14 January 1951 in Lomé, Togo, by Archbishop Louis Parisot of Cotonou. He then fulfilled pastoral assignments while also teaching languages at the seminary. In 1953 he was sent to Rome where he studied at the Pontifical Urban University and then at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he earned his licenciate in theology and canon law.[2]
On 11 December 1956,
He was chairman of the West African Episcopal Conference.[4]
Roman curia
Pope Paul VI appointed him to the Roman Curia and gave him a series of assignments, starring as adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 1971 and secretary of that Congregation in 1973. On 19 December 1975 he was named Vice President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and on 5 January 1976 Gantin received the additional responsibilities of the Vice President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, as Pope Paul was combining those two departments.[2]
In 1976, Pope Paul appointed him head of the President of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, making him the first African to head a curial department. This commission was headed by a cardinal, so Gantin held the title Pro-President until Pope Paul made him a cardinal on 27 June 1977. He was made a member of the order of cardinal deacons and assigned the deaconry of Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re.[7]
On 4 September 1978, he was named President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum by Pope John Paul I, the only administrative appointment of his month-long papacy.[8] Gantin met with John Paul I the day before he died.[9]
He participated in the 1978 conclaves that elected Popes
In 1982, he accompanied Pope John Paul on his visit to Benin.[10]
On 8 April 1984,
Cardinal bishop and dean
On 29 September 1986, Pope John Paul appointed Gantin
one of six Latin-church members of the highest rank of cardinals, responsible for electing the dean and sub dean of the college who manage the conclave that elects the pope.The six Latin-church cardinal bishops elect the dean and subdean, who takes his position when the pope consents to the election. On 5 June 1993, Gantin was elected and confirmed Dean of the College of Cardinals, which gave him the additional title cardinal bishop of Ostia. He was the first non-European to hold this office and remains the only one.[15]
He ended his service as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on 25 June 1998. Less than a year later, in April 1999, he endorsed a views of Cardinal Vincenzo Fagiolo that bishops need to consider themselves married to their sees and expect their relationship to be lifelong. He said he had been shocked by overt expressions of "careerism" and "social climbing". He suggested that bishops should be transferred "to less developed, more difficult sees rather than to more comfortable and prestigious ones". He also said that there should be no connection between a see and a place in the College of Cardinals, offering Milan as an example.[16]
On 29 November 2002, with the permission of Pope John Paul, he retired as Dean of the College of Cardinals and cardinal bishop of Ostia,[17][a] which required he reside in Rome. Now eighty years old, he retired to Cotonou,[4] which he had visited regularly throughout his years in Rome.[1] He remained cardinal bishop of Palestrina. Two years into his retirement he described his situation: "I left Rome in body but not in spirit. I am a Roman missionary in my country."[21]
In retirement he spoke more freely than he had while under the obligations of office. In 2006 he criticized his contemporary bishops in Africa: "If I have to make a complaint it would be this: if at one time the bishops moved little, today they travel too much. Sitting down, listening, praying with their own believers is more that ever necessary and urgent for them. Always keeping in mind what is set down in canon 395 of the Code of Canon Law on the obligation of residence in their diocese, they can also be an example to their own priests." He warned against allowing African priests to relocate permanently in Europe, to "roam the dioceses of the Western world more in search of their own material comfort than out of genuine pastoral zeal". And he warned European religious orders against such personnel transfers: "The European religious congregations on their last legs or threatened with extinction should not go seeking cheap reinvigoration among the young Churches in Asia or Africa."[22]
Death and legacy
Gantin died at Pompidou Hospital in Paris after a long illness on 13 May 2008, less than a week after being transferred there from Benin and five days after his 86th birthday.[1][4] The Beninese government declared three days of mourning for him, beginning on 14 May.[23]
Pope Benedict XVI visited his tomb in the chapel of the Seminary of Saint Gall in Ouidah on 19 November 2011.[24]
In May 2013, Vatican officials inaugurated a chair named for him devoted to "Socializing Policy in Africa" at the Pontifical Lateran University.[25]
The Cadjehoun Airport, Benin's main international airport, was named in his honor.[24][26]
See also
- Roman Catholicism in Benin
Notes
References
- ^ a b c "Bernardin Gantin, Cardinal, 86, Is Dead". The New York Times. Associated Press. 16 May 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ a b "The death of Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Dean Emeritus of the College of Cardinals, first African appointed by the Pope to a prominent position in the Roman Curia". Agenzia Fides. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XXXXIX. 1957. p. 81.
- ^ a b c d Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Africa's leading cardinal, has died; The Times, 14 May 2008
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LII. 1960. p. 328.
- ^ a b c "Cardinal Bernardin Gantin: Ally of John Paul II who exercised great influence at the Vatican as head of the Congregation for Bishops". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXIX. 1977. pp. 377, 380.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXX. 1978. p. 755.
- ^ a b Gantin, Bernadin (September 2003). ""They were all very content"". 30Giorni (Interview). Interviewed by Gianni Cardinale. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ a b Stanford, Peter. "Cardinal Bernadin Gantin". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXXVI. 1984. p. 508.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXXVI. 1984. p. 755.
- ^ "Letter of John Paul II to Cardinal Bernadin Gantin on the 50th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 14 December 2000. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXXVIII. 1986. p. 1070.
- ^ Mancini, Marco (30 August 2021). "I Decani del Sacro Collegio: il Cardinale Bernardin Gantin" (in Italian). Retrieved 2 January 2024.
- ^ Gantin, Bernadin (May 2008). ""Once a bishop is appointed to a particular see, he must generally and in principle stay there for ever"". 30Giorni (Interview). Interviewed by Gianni Cardinale. Retrieved 14 March 2021. This interview conducted in April 1999 was republished in 2008.
- ^ "Lettera del Santo Padre all'Em.mo Card. Bernadin Gantin per la Dispensa dall'Ufficio di Decano del Collegio Cardinalizio, 30.11.2002" (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2021. The pope's letter is date 19 March 2002 and published on 29 November without explanation.
- ^ Allen Jr., John L. (19 November 2011). "In voodoo capital, Benedict blasts 'occultism and evil spirits'". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Elie, Paul (January–February 2006). "The Year of Two Popes". The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ISBN 9780307424105. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Gantin, Bernadin (January 2005). ""I remain a Roman missionary in my country"". 30Giorni (Interview). Interviewed by Gianni Cardinale. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Gantin, Bernadin (June 2006). "My Africa blessed by the Lord". 30Giorni (Interview). Interviewed by Gianni Cardinale. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ "Benin starts three-day national mourning for late Cardinal Gantin". African Press Agency. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ a b Allen Jr., John L. (20 November 2011). "The lonely liberation theology of Benedict XVI". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ "Conferenza Stampa di Presentazione della Cattedra "Cardinal Bernadin Gantin" nella Pontificia Università Lateranense" (PDF) (Press release) (in Italian). 25 May 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ "Réaménagement de l'Aéroport International Cardinal Bernadin Gantin de Cotonou". Agence National de l'Aviation Civile (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2021.
External links
- "Gantin, Card. Bernadin". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 28 April 2005.
- "Bernardin Cardinal Gantin". Catholic Hierarchy. [self-published]
- "Gantin, Bernadin". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. [self-published]