VATICAN - Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, as a person and as a priest, was “a marvelous blend of the characteristics of the African soul with those of the Christian spirit, of African culture and identity with evangelical values.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - In the “perspective of faith and hope in the resurrection,” a Memorial Mass was celebrated in the Vatican Basilica for Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, retired Dean of the College of Cardinals, who died May 13 (see Fides 14/5/2008). At the end of the Mass, the Holy Father spoke of this “faithful and devoted servant of the Church for so many years.” “It is not east to briefly summarize the work, accomplishments, and pastoral services,” Benedict XVI said, “that in close succession characterized the various stages of his earthly existence that concluded at 86 years of age, in Paris’ Georges Pompidou Hospital. Until the end, he dedicated himself with affable willingness to the service of God and his fellows, maintaining faith in the motto he chose at the moment of his episcopal ordination: 'In tuo sancto servitio.’ As a person and as a priest, he was “a marvelous blend of the characteristics of the African soul with those of the Christian spirit, of African culture and identity with evangelical values. He was the first African prelate to occupy roles of great responsibility in the Roman Curia, where he always remained with that humble and simple style that characterized him and whose secret is probably linked to the wise advice given him by his mother when he became Cardinal on June 27, 1977: ‘Never forget the far-away little village we come from.’”
The Holy Father reflected on the “many personal memories” he had of Cardinal Gantin, “from the moment in which we received the Cardinal’s berretta together, from Servant of God Pope Paul VI, 31 years ago now. We worked together here in the Roman Curia, meeting on a frequent basis, which enabled me to gain ever greater appreciation of his prudent wisdom, as well as his solid faith and sincere adherence to Christ and to his vicar on earth, the Pope. Fifty-seven years of priesthood, 51 years of episcopate and 31 as cardinal: This is the summary of a life spent for the Church.”
After having recalled the main events in his long service to the Church, Benedict XVI mentioned that in Cardinal Gantin's pastoral ministry, “there emerges a constant love for the Eucharist, source of individual sanctity and of solid ecclesial communion, which has its visible foundation in Peter's Successor.”
In the Vatican Basilica, in celebrating his last Mass before leaving Rome, he highlighted the unity the Eucharist creates in the Church. “In his homily he quoted the famous phrase of the African bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage, etched in the Cupola: 'From here, the one faith shines out through the world; from here, arises the unity of the priesthood.' This could be the message we draw from Cardinal Gantin, as his spiritual testament." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2008 righe 34, parole 457)