“The iron tree of the land of Africa”

Brief biography of Bernard Gantin

The mass celebrated by Cardinal Gantin at the tomb of Peter before leaving Rome for Benin, in 2002

His last name means “iron tree of the land of Africa”, and his people and his land are always present in his life. Son of a functionary of the railways, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin was born in 1922 in what was then Dahomey, now Benin. In 1936, having completed his middle school studies, he entered the minor seminary of his region and in 1951 was ordained in Ouidah in Benin by Archbishop Louis Parisot. In 1953 – leaving in Africa something more than his heart – he was called to Rome where he studied at the Urbanian University and then at the Lateran, obtaining the Licentiate in Theology and in Canon Law. In December 1956 he was nominated auxiliary of the archdiocese of Cotonou. John XXIII promoted him archbishop of the same metropolitan see in January 1960. He participated in all the sessions of Vatican Council II. In April 1971 Paul VI called him to Rome as adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, of which he became secretary two years later. In December 1975 he was nominated vice-president of the Pontifical Commission «Iustitia et Pax», then becoming president of it a year later. In December 1975 he was also nominated vice-president of the Pontifical Council «Cor Unum» becoming pro-president of it the following year and finally president on 4 September 1978. It is to be noted that this last was the only Curial nomination in the brief pontificate of John Paul I.
Created cardinal by Paul VI in June 1977, in April 1984 John Paul II nominated him prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, positions held until June 1998. In June 1993 the Pope approved his election, voted by the cardinals of the order of bishops, as dean of the College of Cardinals. On 30 November 2002 the Holy Father accepted the request of the African cardinal to be dispensed from the office of dean, allowing him at the same time to return – with the title of dean emeritus – to his country, in beloved Benin.