Bernardin Gantin

Bernardin Gantin (8 May 1922 – 13 May 2008) was a Beninese Catholic prelate who held senior positions in the Roman Curia for twenty years and the highest position in the College of Cardinals for nine years. His prominence in the hierarchy of the Church was unprecedented for an African and has been equaled by few non-Italians.

He began his career in his native country first as an auxiliary bishop and then as Archbishop of Cotonou. In 1971, he began his thirty-year career in the Curia. After he had spent several years in the role of senior assistant, he held a series of senior positions as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, and prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops.

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 and returned to Benin when he turned 80. His cause for canonization was opened after his death and he was declared a Servant of God by Pope Francis.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=nytobit/> 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 licentiate in theology and canon law.<ref name=fides>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 11 December 1956, Pope Pius XII appointed him titular bishop of Tipasa and auxiliary bishop of Cotonou.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He received his episcopal consecration on 3 February 1957 from Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, Dean of the College of Cardinals.<ref name=apaobit/> On 5 January 1960, Pope John XXIII appointed him Archbishop of Cotonou.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> As archbishop, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), where he first became friends with the future Pope John Paul II.<ref name=independent/>

He was chairman of the West African Episcopal Conference.<ref name=apaobit/>

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.<ref name=fides/>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gantin met with John Paul I the day before he died.<ref name=content/>

He participated in the 1978 conclaves that elected Popes Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II.<ref name=content>Template:Cite interview</ref> At the first of them he was reportedly one of three cardinals who counted the votes. During the second of these conclaves, Gantin was thought to be one of the papabili, those cardinals who are thought to have a chance of being elected pope.<ref name=guardian>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gantin celebrating Mass, San Fiorano (Lodi), Italy, 1984

In 1982, he accompanied Pope John Paul II on his visit to Benin.<ref name=guardian/>

On 8 April 1984, Pope John Paul II appointed him prefect of the Congregation for Bishops,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which supervises episcopal appointments in the non-missionary Latin Rite dioceses throughout the world. He was also made president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. On 25 June 1984, Gantin opted to become a member of the order of cardinal priests.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For the next fourteen years he collaborated with Pope John Paul in shaping the hierarchy of the Church, both in making appointments and in managing the agendas for the periodic visits bishops make to consult with the pope and the Curia.<ref name=independent>Template:Cite news</ref> On the pope's behalf he managed appointments of conservative prelates in dioceses that did not welcome them in the Netherlands and Switzerland, removed an outspoken liberal French bishop, contended with Latin American advocates for the rights of indigenous peoples, and the excommunication of Marcel Lefebvre, with whom he had worked in Africa in the 1960s.<ref name=independent/> Years later, John Paul referred to their years of "regular contact and an almost unique familiarity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cardinal bishop and dean

On 29 September 1986, Pope John Paul II appointed Gantin cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Palestrina,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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, Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite interview This interview conducted in April 1999 was republished in 2008.</ref>

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,<ref>Template:Cite web The pope's letter is date 19 March 2002 and published on 29 November without explanation.</ref>Template:Efn which required he reside in Rome. Now eighty years old, he retired to Cotonou,<ref name=apaobit/> which he had visited regularly throughout his years in Rome.<ref name=nytobit>Template:Cite news</ref> 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."<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref>

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."<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref>

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.<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=apaobit>Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Africa's leading cardinal, has diedTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore; The Times, 14 May 2008</ref> The Beninese government declared three days of mourning for him, beginning on 14 May.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Pope Benedict XVI visited his tomb in the chapel of the Seminary of Saint Gall in Ouidah on 19 November 2011.<ref name=lonely>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2013, Vatican officials inaugurated a chair named for him devoted to "Socializing Policy in Africa" at the Pontifical Lateran University.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

The Cadjehoun Airport, Benin's main international airport, was named in his honor.<ref name=lonely/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cause of beatification

On 30 January 2025, the Episcopal Conference of the Italian Region of Lazio, which includes the Diocese of Rome, has issued a favourable opinion for the opening of the cause for beatification of Gantin.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Benin
• List of Africans venerated in the Catholic Church

External links

• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web [[Wikipedia:SPS|Template:Sup]]
• Template:Cite web [[Wikipedia:SPS|Template:Sup]]