Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Bernardin Gantin died yesterday, May 13, in a hospital in Paris, where he had been in recovery for some time. The Cardinal was a native of Benin and Dean Emeritus of the College of Cardinals. He was the first African named by Paul VI to take on a role of responsibility in the Roman Curia: in the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, the Congregation for Bishops, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and finally, the College of Cardinals, of which he served as Dean until November 30, 2002, when the Holy Father John Paul II accepted his petition to return to his homeland.
Born in Toffo, Archdiocese of Cotonou (Benin), on May 8, 1922, Bernardin Gantin entered the seminary in Ouidah in 1936. He was ordained a priest on January 14, 1951 in Lome (Togo). He was a language teacher for three years in the diocesan seminary, while he also dedicated much of his time to pastoral activity. In 1953, leaving his heart in Africa, he was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Urban University and then at the Lateran. He received a Licentiate in Theology and in Canon Law. On 11 December 1956 he was elected titular Bishop of Tipasa of Mauritania and Auxiliary of Cotonou and was ordained on 3 February 1957. On 5 January 1960, John XXIII promoted him to Archbishop of Cotonou. He dedicated himself tirelessly to pastoral and missionary activity, he founded schools; vigorously supported the activity of catechists and of indigenous sisters; and took special care of the priestly vocations. Pope Paul VI called him to Rome in April 1971 as the adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, of which he became the secretary two years later (26 February 1973). On December 20, 1975, he was named Vice-President, Pro-President (16 December 1976), and then President of the Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (29 June 1977). He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Paul VI in the consistory of 27 June 1977. In December 1975, he was also named Vice-President and then President (by John Paul I) of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum (4 September 1978). On April 8, 1984 he was nominated by Pope John Paul II Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, where he remained for over 14 years, until June 25, 1998. On June 5, 1993, he became Dean of the College of Cardinals. On November 20, 2002, the Holy Father John Paul II accepted his request to return to Benin.
In an interview he granted Agenzia Fides on February 23, 2001, Cardinal Gantin reflected on his experience in Rome and on the subject of the missions saying, “Jesus Christ gives sense to our mission and our vocation. Alone I would be nothing. I was called to Rome 30 years ago. When the Pope speaks it is Christ who speaks. The missionaries who have been in our country for more than 100 years, said ‘yes’ to God, and they came from many different countries and from different local Churches and they said ‘yes’ to the Pope and to Christ, accepting to bring the Gospel to us. When for the first time the Pope asked an African to be a missionary to Rome, could his request be refused? I accepted out of obedience and service to the Pope and to Christ. I said ‘yes’ following the example of the first missionaries who accepted to come to evangelize us. For me, to be a Cardinal is not something of which I can boast, or of which my country can boast. It is simply a sign of the universality of the Church, the Catholicity of the Church: and for me this is what counts.”
In the commentary on the Missionary Intention for November 2004, on holiness, published in Agenzia Fides on 28/10/2004, Cardinal Gantin stated that, “Undoubtedly the main ambition of a Christian is not to be beatified or canonised, but to be faithful, to be a person of faith in Christ, who renders Christ present and bears witnesses to him in every aspect and area of this earthly life. This is an obligation for the Christian ‘charged with mission,’ for one who has received the command to proclaim the Gospel. He or she cannot forget that life bears fruit only if it is attached to Christ, like a branch to the vine.”
On February 3, 2007, Cardinal Gantin celebrated a special Mass in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Ouidah, in thanksgiving for his 50th anniversary of ordination as bishop. Present at the celebration were 3 Cardinals, some thirty Archbishops and Bishops from various western African countries, the entire Bishops’ Conference of Benin, various Bishops from Italy and France, priests from Benin and Togo, and missionaries from various European countries. In his address for the occasion Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, spoke on behalf of the Congregation and he said how happy he was to join in the expressions of filial affection and admiration “a man whose figure and life story have been an ecclesial and missionary epiphany.” And added: “We all received much from your African spirit and your approach to the significance of the human person... your life story is that of a ‘son of missionaries who became a missionary’, an African missionary to Rome where you deepened your sensus ecclesiae. Your time in Rome traced a missionary furrow from Africa to the heart of Catholicity.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 14/5/2008 - righe 61, parole 933)
