Biography of Cardinal Robert Sarah

Robert Sarah was born in Ourous in the archdiocese of Conakry in Guinea, on 15 June 1945. Ordained priest on 20 July, 1969, he was then sent to Rome, where he obtained a licentiate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In Rome, he widened his knowledge at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, then going further into his studies with a period at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Back home, he was a parish priest, and then rector of the junior seminary of Kindia. Appointed archbishop of Conakry 13 August 1979 he was consecrated on the following 8 December. He was then apostolic administrator of Kankan, president of the Episcopal Conference of Guinea and president of the Regional Episcopal Conference for Francophone West Africa (CERAO). In October 2001 he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a post he held for nine years, up to 7 October 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him president of the ‘Cor Unum’ Pontifical Council. He was created cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 20 November 2010.