Indiens Regierung wird Christen schützen
Jan 11, 2009
New Delhi, 9.1.09 (KAP) Kardinal Ivan Dias ist überzeugt, dass die indische Regierung auf angemessene Weise auf die Übergriffe gegen Christen in den Bundesstaaten Orissa und Karnataka reagieren wird. Das betonte der Präfekt der vatikanischen Missionskongregation bei einem Besuch in seiner früheren Bischofsstadt Bombay. Indien sei berühmt dafür, die größte Demokratie der Welt zu sein, und werde diesem Bild entsprechen, so der Kardinal weiter.
Dias war nach Bombay gereist, um sein goldenes Priesterjubiläum in der Heimat zu begehen. Beim Jubiläumsgottesdienst konzelebrierte er mit dem derzeitigen Erzbischof von Bombay, Kardinal Oswald Gracias, und zahlreichen weiteren Bischöfen und Priestern.
Indien: Kardinal glaubt an Versprechen
Jan 10, 2009
Kardinal Ivan Dias hat sich überzeugt geäußert, dass die indische Regierung auf angemessene Weise auf die Übergriffe gegen Christen in Orissa und Karnataka reagieren werde. Das ließ der Präfekt der Kongregation für die Evangelisierung der Völker bei einem Besuch in Mumbai verlauten. Indien sei berühmt dafür, die größte Demokratie der Welt zu sein und werde diesem Bild entsprechen, so der Kardinal weiter. Der gebürtige Inder Dias war nach Mumbai gereist, um das 50-jährige Jubiläum seiner Priesterweihe auch in seinem Heimatland zu begehen. Am feierlichen Gottesdienst nahm auch der Erzbischof von Mumbai, Kardinal Oswald Gracias, teil.
Missione ed evangelizzazione, sfide della Chiesa di oggi
Jul 25, 2008
Il porporato interviene alla Conferenza di Lambeth.
CANTERBURY, mercoledì, 23 luglio 2008 (ZENIT.org).- "Missione, Giustizia sociale ed Evangelizzazione" sono stati i temi affrontati affrontati questo martedì dal Cardinale Ivan Dias, Prefetto della Congregazione per l'Evangelizzazione dei Popoli, nel corso dei lavori della Conferenza di Lambeth, l'incontro decennale di tutti i Vescovi anglicani del mondo, in svolgimento a Canterbury (Inghilterra) dal 16 luglio al 3 agosto.
Secondo il porporato, riporta l'agenzia Fides, esiste uno stretto rapporto "tra la missione di annunciare la Buona Novella e la necessità di essere attenti alle necessità dei nostri fratelli riguardanti gli aspetti sociali e della giustizia".
Per questo motivo, è necessario tradurre l'amore verso Dio in opere d'amore nei confronti del prossimo.
Gesù, ha spiegato il Cardinale, ha dato ai suoi discepoli la missione di rinnovare la terra annunciando il messaggio di salvezza.
"Ha voluto che la sua Chiesa fosse dinamica, non statica, e trasformi l'umanità dall'interno, essendo sale della terra e luce del mondo e lievito nella pasta, per preparare l'avvento di una nuova creazione".
"Per un discepolo di Cristo quindi, predicare il Vangelo non è una opzione ma un comando del Signore", ha aggiunto.
Per il Cardinale, "il mandato missionario ci fa entrare nella profondità del cuore di Dio, che vuole che tutti gli uomini, le donne e i bambini siano salvi e giungano alla conoscenza della Verità. Un cristiano quindi deve considerarsi in missione per proclamare la sacra persona e la missione salvifica di Gesù Cristo in tutti i tempi e senza compromessi, e per diffondere i valori del Vangelo in ogni cuore, in ogni casa, in ogni cultura".
Se in passato le tradizionali aree di evangelizzazione erano "il cuore dell'uomo e la casa, la sanità e l'educazione, i malati e gli anziani", ha proseguito, al giorno d'oggi "non possiamo ignorare i nuovi orizzonti che devono essere illuminati dalla luce di Cristo".
Tra questi, ha citato soprattutto i mass media, il mondo della scienza e della tecnologia, quello delle comunicazioni politiche e sociali e dei rifugiati e migranti.
In questo contesto, il Cardinale ha incoraggiato i Vescovi ad agire: "fedeli alla nostra missione dobbiamo essere attivi e non solamente reattivi, leggendo i segni dei tempi e progettando i nostri impegni missionari, fermamente convinti che Colui che ha nelle sue mani il destino dell'umanità ha promesso di essere con i suoi discepoli fino alla fine dei tempi".
Come nei primi tempi dell'era cristiana i pagani erano attratti dalla fede soprattutto vedendo il comportamento dei cristiani, ha osservato, anche oggi il mondo ha bisogno della "testimonianza credibile dei cristiani, che vivono nel mondo, con le sue gioie e dolori, speranze e tribolazioni, ma non sono del mondo".
Per questo motivo, i Vescovi devono incoraggiare i fedeli "a dare testimonianza della speranza che è in loro", mostrando "la bellezza della fede cristiana senza vergogne o compromessi".
Allo stesso modo, possono offrire un importante contributo alla causa dell'evangelizzazione l'inculturazione e il dialogo interreligioso.
La prima, ha ricordato, "è il processo attraverso il quale il messaggio del Vangelo viene incarnato nelle culture e nei contesti locali".
"Purtroppo una delle grandi tragedie dei nostri tempi è il divorzio tra fede e cultura - ha lamentato -. I Vescovi devono quindi incoraggiare le iniziative che hanno per obiettivo l'armonica fusione di fede e cultura attraverso l'arte, la musica, la danza e la liturgia".
Quanto al dialogo interreligioso, il Cardinale Dias ha affermato che "il patrimonio spirituale delle tradizioni religiose non cristiane è un invito a dialogare, non solo in quelle cose che esse hanno in comune con la cultura cristiana, ma anche nelle loro differenze".
Il dialogo, constata, "non è mai un tentativo di imporre il nostro punto di vista agli altri, perché in questo modo il dialogo diventerebbe una forma di dominazione spirituale e culturale, e nemmeno significa abbandonare le nostre convinzioni"; "significa invece, mantenendo ferme le cose in cui crediamo, ascoltare rispettosamente gli altri per discernere tutto ciò che vi è di buono e santo, tutto quello che favorisce la pace e la cooperazione".
Sottolineando la dimensione ecumenica dell'evangelizzazione, il Prefetto del dicastero vaticano ha concluso osservando che l'evangelizzazione "è prerogativa unica dello Spirito Santo, che ha bisogno di canali attraverso cui possa fluire".
"Questo sarà possibile nella misura in cui vi sarà unità e coesione tra i membri della Chiesa, tra loro e i loro pastori, e, soprattutto, tra gli stessi pastori, sia all'interno delle loro comunità come con le altre Confessioni cristiane".
Lambeth Update: A Catholic Cardinal speaks the Truth in Love
Jul 24, 2008
Ivan Cardinal Dias is the kind of leader which the Church needs as we begin this Third Christian Millennium. He spoke the truth in love to our Anglican Friends.
CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online, 7/24/2008) - Damien Thompson of the Daily Telegraph and the Catholic Herald of London is one of the most accurate journalists covering the unfolding events in the Anglican Communion.
In his daily report entitled “Holy Smoke”, published online for Wednesday, July 23, he wrote the following:
“A senior Vatican Cardinal visiting the Lambeth Conference has delivered an incredible rebuff to its 650 Anglican bishops, telling them they are heading towards "spiritual Alzheimer's" and "ecclesial Parkinson's".
“The comments by Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization, must count as one of the rudest things a Vatican prelate has said to Anglicans since the dawn of the ecumenical era.
“It can mean only one thing: Rome - and therefore the Pope - has given up on the Anglican Communion. Here is the quote, from Cardinal Dias's address to the conference yesterday evening:
"Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities. For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's."
Diaz is one of those Cardinals who favors welcoming traditionalist Anglicans into the Catholic Church. I reckon that liberals will be deeply insulted by his barbs - not least on grounds of political correctness - but that traditionalists will be nodding their heads in agreement.”
Thompsons’ report is only one of multiple reports concerning this extraordinary address given by Ivan Cardinal Dias, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) at the Lambeth conference.
Here are some further selected words from this powerful, prophetic and deeply honest address given to brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing the promotion of heresy in their ranks.
It was given by a member of the Vatican Congregation charged with ensuring that the true faith is proclaimed and who is generally concerned for their own well being:
“The spiritual combat, described in the Books of Genesis and Revelation, has continued unabated all down the ages. St Paul described it in very vivid terms:
“We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).
“This combat rages fiercely even today, aided and abetted by well-known secret sects, Satanic groups and New Age movements, to mention but a few, and reveals many ugly heads of the hideous anti-God monster: among them are notoriously secularism, which seeks to build a Godless society; spiritual indifference, which is insensitive to transcendental values; and relativism, which is contrary to the permanent tenets of the Gospel.
“All of these seek to efface any reference to God or to things supernatural, and to supplant it with mundane values and behavior patterns which purposely ignore the transcendental and the divine.
“Far from satisfying the deep yearnings of the human heart, they foster a culture of death, be it physical or moral, spiritual or psychological. Examples of this culture are abortions (or the slaughter of innocent unborn children), divorces (which kill sacred marriage bonds blessed by God), materialism and moral aberrations (which suffocate the joy of living and lead often to profound psychic depression), economic, social and political injustices (which crush human rights), violence, suicides, murders, and the like, all of which abound today and militate against the mind of Christ, who came that “all may have life, and have it in abundance” (Jn 10:10).
“Two vital institutions of the human society are particularly vulnerable to such a culture of death: the family and the youth. These must, therefore, receive the special attention, guidance and support of those whom the Holy Spirit has placed as shepherds of the flock entrusted to their pastoral care.”
Ivan Cardinal Dias is the kind of leader which the Church needs as we begin this Third Christian Millennium. This is a new missionary age and the most loving thing which the Shepherds of the Church can do for the faithful is to speak the truth in love.
Conférence de Lambeth : Intervention du cardinal Ivan Dias
Jul 24, 2008
Cité du Vatican, le 24 juillet 2008 - E.S.M. - A la Conférence de Lambeth, le Cardinal Ivan Dias parle des sujets suivants: « Mission, Justice Sociale, Evangélisation » : aujourd’hui, le monde a besoin de personnes qui témoignent de « la beauté de la foi chrétienne, sans hontes et sans compromis ».
Dans le cadre des travaux de la « Conférence de Lambeth », la rencontre décennale de tous les Evêques anglicans du monde qui se tient à Cantorbéry en Angleterre du 16 juillet au 3 août, le Cardinal Ivan Dias, Préfet de la Congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des Peuples, a été invité à prendre la parole le 22 juillet, sur le thème suivant : « Mission, Justice Sociale, Evangélisation »
L’intervention du Cardinal Dias est partie du mandat de Jésus concernant l’évangélisation, et le Cardinal a souligné combien cette question était particulièrement appropriée « en cette Année où nous commémorons le bimillénaire de la naissance du grand évangélisateur, qui s’est converti de Saul le persécuteur des chrétiens, pour devenir Paul l’Apôtre des Nations ». Citant le discours de Jésus à la synagogue de Nazareth où il parle de sa mission en paraphrasant le prophète Isaïe (cf. Luc 4, 18-19), le Cardinal Dias a déclaré que nous pouvions voir le rapport étroit qui existe « entre la Mission d’annoncer la Bonne Nouvelle et la nécessité d’être attentifs aux besoins de nos frères, concernant les aspects sociaux et la justice ». Cela veut dire traduire l’amour envers Dieu en oeuvres d’amour envers le prochain : c’est cela l’essence du Commandement Nouveau de l’amour que Jésus nous a laissé, et sur lequel nous seront jugés au dernier jour. »
Jésus a confié à ses disciples la Mission de renouveler la face de la terre en annonçant le Message du salut à toute l’humanité. « Il a voulu que son Eglise soit dynamique et non statique, et qu’elle transforme l’humanité de l’intérieur, en étant le sel de la terre, la lumière du monde, et le levain dans la pâte, pour préparer l’avènement d’une nouvelle création… Pour un disciple du Christ, prêcher l’Evangile n’est donc pas une option mais un commandement du Seigneur ». Le Cardinal a montré combien l’urgence d’annoncer l’Evangile était actuelle aujourd’hui, tout comme il y a deux mille ans, même si certains ont déclaré naïvement que « Dieu était mort ». Après avoir rappelé l’unicité de Jésus-Christ et l’universalité de son salut, le Cardinal Dias a déclaré : « Le mandat missionnaire nous fait entrer dans la profondeur du Cœur de Dieu, qui veut que tous les hommes, toutes les femmes et tous les enfants soient sauvés et parviennent à la connaissance de la Vérité. Un chrétien doit donc considérer qu’il a une mission pour proclamer la Personne sacrée et la Mission salvifique de Jésus-Christ, dans tous les temps et sans compromis, et pour répandre les valeurs de l’Evangile dans tous les cœurs, dans toutes les maisons, et dans toutes les cultures ».
Le Cardinal Dias a parlé ensuite des problèmes actuels de l’évangélisation : « Si, dans le passé, les domaines traditionnels d’évangélisation étaient le cœur de l’homme et la maison, la santé et l’éducation, les malades et les personnes âgées, nous ne pouvons ignorer les nouveaux horizons qui doivent être éclairés par la Lumière du Christ ». Parmi les modernes « Aréopages » - rappelant la prédication de Saint Paul à l’Aréopage d’Athènes - qui ont besoin d’être évangélisés aujourd’hui, il y a surtout les moyens de communication de masse, le monde de la science et de la technologie, des communications sociales et des politiques, des réfugiés et des migrants, et bien d’autres encore.
« Il y a donc la vaste gamme des cultures et des religions non-chrétiennes, qui exercent une influence profonde sur le manière de penser et sur le style de vie de leurs fidèles. Cette mosaïque de cultures et de religions est rendue plus complexe encore par les questions qui se posent sur l’identité de l’homme et sur le but de sa vie. Dans notre monde postmoderne, bien souvent, les réponses à ces questions ignorent la dimension transcendante de la vie, et cherchent à rendre Dieu sans importance. Dans le monde occidental, qui, en prenant ses distances de ses racines et de ses traditions chrétiennes a créé un contexte de confusion morale, et les principes et les valeurs chrétiennes, morales et éthiques sont menacés de toutes parts ». Devant ce contexte mondiale, le Cardinal a demandé aux Evêques à ne pas être des spectateurs passifs : « Fidèles à notre mission, nous devons être actifs et non pas seulement en réaction, en lisant les signes des temps, et en préparant nos engagements missionnaires, fermement convaincus que Celui qui a dans ses mains la destinée de l’humanité a promis d’être avec ses disciples jusqu’à la fin des temps ».
De nos jours, parmi les voies de l’évangélisation, le Cardinal a indiqué tout d’abord le caractère exemplaire de la vie chrétienne. Aux premiers temps de l’ère chrétienne, les païens étaient attirés par la foi, en voyant surtout l’attitude des chrétiens, leur manière de vivre. Le monde a encore besoin aujourd’hui du « témoignage crédible des chrétiens qui vivent dans le monde, avec ses joies et ses peines, ses espérances et ses tribulations, mais qui ne sont pas du, monde ». Aussi les Evêques doivent-ils inviter les fidèles à “donner le témoignage de l’espérance qui est en eux », parce que le monde a besoin de personnes comme le Cardinal Newman, Chesterton, Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, et de nombreux autres qui ont témoigné brillamment de « la beauté de la foi chrétienne, sans hontes et sans compromis ».
Deux autres voies peuvent contribuer à la cause de l’évangélisation : l’inculturation et le dialogue interreligieux. « L’inculturation est le processus par lequel le Message de l’Evangile est incarné dans les cultures et dans les contextes locaux. Malheureusement, une des deux grandes tragédies de notre temps, est le divorce entre la foi et la culture. Les Evêques doivent donc encourager les initiatives qui ont pour objectif la fusion harmonieuse de la foi et de la culture, par le moyen de l’art, de la musique, de la danse et de la liturgie ».
A propos du dialogue interreligieux, le Cardinal Dias a rappelé que, même dans les autres traditions religieuses et culturelles il y a des éléments authentiques, bons et saints. « Le patrimoine spirituel des traditions religieuses non chrétiennes est une invitation à dialoguer, non seulement dans les choses qu’elles ont en commun avec la culture chrétienne, mais aussi dans les leurs différences. Le dialogue, en effet, n’est jamais une tentative pour imposer notre point de vue aux autres, parce que, de cette manière, le dialogue deviendrait une forme de domination spirituelle et culturelle, ce qui, ne veut dire en rien abandonner nos convictions. Cela veut dire en revanche, en maintenant fermes les choses dans lesquelles nous croyons, écouter respectueusement les autres, pour discerner ce qu’il y a de bon et de sain, tout ce qui favorise la paix et la coopération ». Le Cardinal a rappelé ensuite les différentes formes de dialogue au plan interreligieux – de vie, d’idées, d’expériences – et a invité à savoir prendre dans les religions non chrétiennes ces valeurs qui peuvent être une point de départ valable pour un dialogue interreligieux fructueux.
Le Cardinal a parlé ensuite de la dimension œcuménique de l’évangélisation : « L’Evangélisation est une prérogative unique du Saint-Esprit, qui a besoin de canaux par lesquels elle peut s’écouler. Cela sera possible dans la mesure où existeront l’unité et la cohésion entre les membres de l’Eglise, entre eux et leurs pasteurs, et, surtout, entre les pasteurs eux-mêmes, au sein de leurs communautés, et avec les autres Confessions chrétiennes. Quand on agit dans l’unité d’intentions et de cœur, l’engagement missionnaire en est renforcé ; mais quand la diversité dégénère dans la division, elle devient un contre-témoignage qui compromet sérieusement leur image et les tentatives d’annoncer la Bonne Nouvelle de Jésus. »
Pour terminer, le Cardinal Dias a invité à regarder vers Marie, l’Etoile de la Nouvelle Evangélisation, qui peut être le modèle pour les chrétiens, le point de référence pour le dialogue interreligieux, et un guide pour les Evêques dans leur ministère de discernement.
No podemos ignorar los nuevos horizontes que deben ser iluminados por la luz de Cristo
Jul 23, 2008
Intervención del cardenal Dias en la Conferencia de Lambeth, que reúne a los obispos anglicanos cada 10 años.
Miércoles, 23 jul (RV).- El tema del testimonio cristiano ha estado en el centro de la intervención del cardenal Ivan Dias, prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos, en la Conferencia de Lambeth que tiene lugar cada diez años y que reúne a todos los obispos anglicanos del mundo y se desarrolla en Canterbury. El purpurado se detuvo también en los desafíos de la evangelización.
“Si en el pasado las áreas tradicionales de evangelización eran el corazón del hombre y la casa, la sanidad, la educación, los enfermos y los ancianos no podemos ignorar los nuevos horizontes que deben ser iluminados por la luz de Cristo”.
Entre los modernos “areópagos” que tiene necesidad de ser evangelizados -añadió el purpurado- están sobre todo los medios de comunicación, el mundo de la ciencia y de la tecnología, de las comunicaciones políticas sociales, de los refugiados y migrantes, ect.
Sobre el diálogo interreligioso -según ha indicado la agencia FIDES- el cardenal Dias confirmó que también en las otras tradiciones religiosas y culturales existen elementos auténticos buenos y santos. “El patrimonio espiritual de las tradiciones religiosas no cristianas es una invitación a dialogar no solamente sobre aquellas cosas que tienen en común con la cultura cristiana, sino también sobre sus diferencias.
Dialogar significa, manteniéndose con firmeza en las cosas que creemos, escuchar respetuosamente a los demás para discernir todo lo que hay de bueno y de santo, todo lo que favorece la paz y la cooperación”.
El cardenal ha ilustrado asimismo la dimensión ecuménica de la evangelización: “la Evangelización es una prerrogativa única del Espíritu Santo que tiene necesidad de canales por los cuales pueda fluir. Esto será posible en la medida en que habrá unidad y cohesión entre los miembros de la Iglesia, entre ellos y sus pastores, y, sobre todo entre los mismos pastores, tanto dentro de sus comunidades como con otras confesiones cristianas”.
Hay que subrayar que en un mensaje a la Conferencia de Lambeth, el patriarca de Moscú y de todas las Rusias, Alexio II, recuerda la enorme responsabilidad de “elegir entre normas morales bíblicas y las tendencias que consideran el pecado y el permisivismo general como manifestaciones de amor y tolerancia”. El patriarca, que se ha referido al tema de la homosexualidad en el centro de los debates de la iglesia anglicana, desea también que sea posible continuar manteniendo las relaciones entre las iglesias que enviaron representadas en Lambeth.
También el arzobispo ortodoxo de Atenas y de toda Grecia Jerónimo, ha deseado que “en ocasión del Año paulino, la comunión anglicana “reflexione sobre el grado en la que permanece fiel o se haya desviado de las enseñanzas y de los principios paulinos”.
Bénédiction Apostolique du Cardinal Ivan Dias, au nom du Pape Benoît XVI
May 27, 2008
Rome, le 27 mai 2008 - E.S.M. - « Que Dieu bénisse la Chine »: Bénédiction Apostolique donnée par le Cardinal Ivan Dias, au nom du Pape Benoît XVI, au terme de la cérémonie pour la Journée de Prière pour l’Église de Chine
« Que Dieu bénisse la Chine »: Bénédiction Apostolique donnée par le Cardinal Ivan Dias, au nom du Pape Benoît XVI, au terme de la cérémonie pour la Journée de Prière pour l’Église de Chine
« Tian Zhuu Jiang Fu Zhong Guo (Dieu bénisse la Chine) » : c’est ainsi que le Cardinal Ivan Dias, Préfet de la Congrégation pour l’Évangélisation des Peuples, a terminé son homélie de la Messe célébrée le samedi 24 mai à l’occasion de la Journée de prière pour l’Église de Chine. La cérémonie a eu lieu dans la Basilique de Sainte Marie Majeure, appelée par le Cardinal lui-même, « la Mère de tous les Sanctuaires mariaux ».
La Messe solennelle concélébrée de Rome a été la réponse aux indications du Pape Benoît XVI dans la Lettre aux catholiques chinois du 30 juin 2007. En outre, les catholiques chinois fêtent le 24 mai la Sainte Vierge sous le vocable de Marie « Secours des Chrétiens », vénérée au sanctuaire marial de Sheshan, dans le Diocèse de Shanghai. Mille personnes environ, catholiques ou non, chinois, italiens et d’autres Pays, ont observé une minute de silence pour rappeler les victimes du tremblement de terre du Sichuan ; les cloches de la Basilique ont sonné pendant la prière des fidèles. Les fidèles chinois venus de Prato, de Florence, de Naples, de Milan, de Trévise etc., avec des fidèles italiens et ceux de Rome, ont assisté, avec les séminaristes du Collège Urbain à la Messe concélébrée par environ 80 prêtres chinois et italiens. La liturgie a été célébrée en chinois et en italien avec les chants chinois.
Le Cardinal Dias a souligné les fruits recueillis un an après la Lettre du Pape, et en particulier l’unité entre les catholiques chinois, la proximité et les gestes d’amitié entre le Saint-Siège et la Chine, comme le concert qui « a été un beau geste des autorités chinoises envers le Saint-Père. Et le Saint-Père a eu une pensée reconnaissante pour la population chinoise. Après le tremblement de terre, le Pape a manifesté sa grande sensibilité, lors de l’audience générale aussitôt après la tragédie, en encourageant les sauveteurs et les survivants, et en lançant un appel au monde entier pour qu’il aide la population chinoise touchée par le séisme. Ensuite, le Saint-Père a écrit en personne la Prière à Notre-Dame de Sheshan, et a insisté pour que nous aussi, aujourd’hui, nous célébrions cette Messe. Dans l’homélie, le Cardinal Dias a également déclaré : « Au Paradis, il n’y aura pas de distinction entre catholiques souterrains et catholiques officiels… Le Pape apprécie la fidélité des catholiques chinois ».
Le Cardinal a souligné en outre l’importance de s’unir à l’attitude de la Sainte Vierge comme elle est représentée dans la statue de Notre-Dame de Sheshan, quand elle lève son Fils et le présente au monde. Le Cardinal Dias a terminé son homélie en langue chinoise.
Le responsable du Bureau de l’Immigration de la Conférence Épiscopale Italienne, a pris à son tour la parole à la fin de la Messe. Il a exprimé la solidarité et le salut chaleureux du Responsable du Bureau et des catholiques italiens. Il a exprimé en outre la pleine disponibilité de la part de l’Église italienne à aider les fidèles chinois qui vivent en Italie, mais aussi ceux qui sont en Chine. Enfin, le Cardinal Ivan Dias, a donné la Bénédiction Apostolique au nom du Pape Benoît XVI.
En Chine, plus de mille fidèles de Pékin et de nombreuses autres parties de la Chine se sont rendus au Sanctuaire marial de Hou Sang Yu, ou dans d’autres Sanctuaires proches de leurs diocèses, pour vivre cette Journée de Prière en communion avec l’Église universelle.
Cardinal Dias tells Chinese Catholics the Pope blesses them all, wants to see them united
May 25, 2008
For the first time official and underground Catholics are gathered together in public in response to a plea by Benedict XVI to pray for the Church in China and its mission. Chinese Catholics from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are present at the event. The Martyrs are remembered.
Rome (AsiaNews, 05/24/2008) – The first gathering of Chinese Catholics in Italy received the greetings and blessing of the Pope through Card Ivan Dias, prefect for Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. The occasion was the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, which the Pope set for the day Chinese Catholics celebrate Mary, Help for Christians, who is venerated at the Sheshan shrine, near Shanghai.
Cardinal Dias led the Mass in Rome’s Saint Mary Major Basilica along with hundreds of priests from the official and unofficial Church, as well as from other nationalities. He stressed that the unity expressed today by the Chinese is an important fruit of Benedict XVI’s work.
Often, under the pressure of the regime’s propaganda, Catholics from the official Church are afraid to publicly show their attachment to the Pope, concerned they might be accused of being anti-patriotic. By contrast underground Catholics tend to be intransigent towards official Catholics. But for the cardinal “in heaven there will be no official or underground Catholics because we shall all be children of God. And for the Pope this unity should also be seen on this earth.”
The prelate referred to the “suffering of the past”, calling on everyone to forgive past wrongs. He also highlighted recent signs of thawing relations between China and the Vatican like the 7 May concert by the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra which “offered by government authorities to the Holy Father” as well as the Pontiff’s appeal and prayers for the victims and survivors of the Sichuan earthquake.
Conducted with solemnity, the ceremony included songs in Chinese and prayers in Italian and Chinese. The presence of hundreds of Catholics friends of China and overseas Chinese, including some from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, marked the religious and non-political nature of the event.
Groups of Chinese immigrants came by bus or train from Milan, Treviso, Prato, Florence and Naples. Upon their arrival in Rome at dawn some visited St Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum to remember Christian martyrs of every epoch, including those of China.
In the universal prayer during the Eucharist, prayers were recited for the Pope and Chinese authorities, but it was decided that no prayers should be said for the faithful in prison.
During the canon the “martyrs, especially those of China” were remembered.
At the end of the service the assembly recited the prayer Benedict XVI wrote for our Lady of Sheshan. Cardinal Dias reminded everyone present that today in all the churches of the world these words were recited in prayer, urging them to be united and undertake the evangelisation of China and of Chinese immigrant communities in Italy.
Visite Apostolique en Éthiopie et à Djibouti du Cardinal Ivan Dias
Apr 30, 2008
Rome, le 30 avril 2008 - E.S.M. - Visite Apostolique en Éthiopie et à Djibouti du Cardinal Ivan Dias, envoyé spécial du Saint-Père Benoît XVI, pour la clôture des Cérémonies et des Célébrations à l’occasion du Nouveau Millénaire Chrétien, qui se termine par le Congrès Eucharistique National
Le Cardinal Ivan Dias, Préfet de la Congrégation pour l’Évangélisation des Peuples, se rendra en visite en Éthiopie, où, comme Envoyé Spécial du Pape Benoît XVI, il conclura à Addis-Abeba, le dimanche 4 mai, les Célébrations pour le Nouveau Millénaire Chrétien, qui se termine par le Congrès Eucharistique National. Pendant ce voyage, le Cardinal Dias visitera le Vicariat Apostolique de Meki et le Diocèse de Djibouti.
Le programme de la visite du Cardinal Dias prévoit son arrivée à Addis-Abeba le 1° mai. Il rendra ensuite visite au Président de la République S.Exc. M. Ato Girma Woldeghiorghis, et au Patriarche d’Éthiopie, Sa Sainteté Abba Paulos. La première rencontre avec les fidèles aura lieu dans la Cathédrale catholique d’Addis-Abeba. Le vendredi 2 mai, le Cardinal Dias célèbrera la Messe dans la Cathédrale d’Addis-Abeba, à laquelle assisteront en particulier les personnes consacrées appartenant aux Congrégations et Instituts de vie apostolique présents en Éthiopie. Dans l’après-midi, il rencontrera les séminaristes, les professeurs et les formateurs de l’Institut de Philosophie et de Théologie « St. Francis », puis ce sera la visite au Siège provisoire de l’Université Catholique d’Éthiopie « St. Thomas Aquinas » (ECUSTA), et au Centre dirigé par les Religieuses Missionnaires de la Charité, à Asco, pour les enfants séropositifs orphelins.
Le samedi 3 mai, il visitera le Vicariat Apostolique de Meki ; il célèbrera la Messe dans la cathédrale, il rencontrera le Vicaire Apostolique, les prêtres, les religieux et les religieuses, les laïcs, puis il visitera plusieurs Institutions dirigées par l’Église
Le dimanche 4 mai, à 9 heures, le Cardinal Dias assistera à la Messe solennelle concélébrée, qui marquera la clôture du Congrès Eucharistique National, dans l’église paroissiale “Mary Help of Christians”, dirigée par les Salésiens, à Mekanissa, Addis-Abeba. La liturgie, en rite oriental, sera présidée par S. Exc. Mgr Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel, Archevêque métropolite d’Addis Abeba et Président de l’Assemblée des Évêques d’Éthiopie. Le Cardinal Dias prononcera l’homélie. Dans l’après-midi, le Cardinal rencontrera les Evêques pour un échange de vues sur la situation, sur les problèmes de l’Eglise Catholique en Éthiopie.
Le lundi 5 mai sera consacré à la visite à l’Église de Djibouti. Le Cardinal Ivan Dias, après la visite de courtoisie rendue au Président de la République, S. Exc. M. Ismail Omar Guelleh, présidera la Messe solennelle concélébrée dans la Cathédrale de Djibouti, récemment restaurée. Il assistera aussi à une réception à l’occasion du 3° anniversaire de l’élection du Pape Benoît XVI. Le mardi 6 mai, le Cardinal Dias quittera Djibouti pour Addis-Abeba, et, dans la soirée, il retournera à Rome. (S.L.)
VATICAN - Lettre du Pape Benoît XVI au Cardinal Ivan Dias, Envoyé Spécial aux Cérémonies pour le Nouveau Millénaire Chrétien en Éthiopie, à l’occasion du Congrès eucharistique National
Le 1° mars 2008, le Pape Benoît XVI a nommé le Cardinal Ivan Dias, Préfet de la Congrégation pour l’Évangélisation des Peuples, comme Son envoyé Spécial aux Cérémonies pour le Nouveau Millénaire Chrétien en Éthiopie ; les cérémonies auront lieu à Addis-Abeba du 2 au 4 mai 2008, à l’occasion du Congrès Eucharistique National éthiopien. Envoyé Spécial, le Cardinal sera accompagné d’une Mission composée de l’Abbé Tsegaye Kenini, de l’Archidiocèse de Addis-Abeba, ancien Secrétaire Général de l’ « Ethiopian Catholic Secretariate » ; du Père Tesfaye Tadesse, M.C.C.J., Supérieur Provincial des Missionnaires Comboniens en Éthiopie et Président de la Conférence des Supérieurs Majeurs des Religieux d’Éthiopie. A l’occasion de la nomination comme envoyé Spécial, le Saint-Père a envoyé une Lettre rédigée en latin au Cardinal Ivan Dias, qui porte la date du 27 mars 2008, et a été rendue publique le 26 avril. (S.L.)
Mary Inspires Believers to Fight Evil, Says Cardinal
Dec 13, 2007
Papal Envoy Opens Jubilee Year in Lourdes.
LOURDES, France, DEC. 11, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The papal envoy sent to open the jubilee year of the Marian apparitions in Lourdes said that Mary inspires an attitude of "permanent battle" for good against the forces of evil.
Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Evangelization of People, opened the jubilee celebrations in France on Saturday, feast of the Immaculate Conception, the title with which Mary introduced herself when she appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
The cardinal said that the struggle between the forces of good and evil "began at the beginning of human history, and will continue until the end."
Cardinal Dias said that today "this battle is even bloodier than in Bernadette's time."
"The world finds itself terribly deceived in the spiral of relativism that desires to create a society without God, a relativism that erodes the permanent and unchangeable values of the Gospel; and of religious indifference that remains unconcerned before the higher good of things relating to God and the Church," he added.
But, he said "a mother has bent down from heaven, concerned for her sons who live in sin, far from Christ." The cardinal said Mary enters into world history, which marks "the hostilities between her and the devil, as described in Genesis and Revelation."
"The Virgin is weaving a network of her spiritual sons and daughters in order to launch a strong offensive against the deadly forces and to prepare for the final victory of her divine son Jesus Christ," stressed Cardinal Dias.
The weapons are "conversion of heart, a great devotion to the holy Eucharist, daily recitation of the rosary, constant prayer without hypocrisy, and accepting sufferings for the salvation of the world," he affirmed. "The final victory will be God's."
L'Osservatore Romano noted that for a moment during the celebrations, "around 4:15 p.m. [...] thanks to an international radio connection, everyone prayed to Mary together with the Pope."
Inaugurazione dell’anno accademico 2007/2008
Oct 10, 2007
Omelia di Sua Eminenza Reverendissima il Signor Cardinale Ivan Dias alla celebrazione Eucaristica di inaugurazione dell’anno accademico 2007/2008 della Pontificia Università Urbaniana
Romani 12,9-21 ; Luca 10,25-37.
Cari fratelli e sorelle, con gioia iniziamo l’anno accademico dell’Università Urbaniana stringendoci attorno alla mensa del Signore, lui che è l’unico vero maestro e Signore della nostra vita. Veniamo da tanti paesi, che rappresentano mondi e culture diverse. Tuttavia siamo parte di un’unica famiglia senza confini, in cui quanto ci potrebbe separare si compone nella comunione con il Signore e nell’ascolto fedele della sua parola. Molti di voi portano forse con sé le ferite dei vostri popoli, quelle della guerra, delle malattie, di condizioni materiali difficili, talvolta persino della persecuzione. Non siamo qui per dimenticare o per fuggire da situazioni complicate, bensì per prepararci a tornare nei nostri paesi e nelle situazioni da cui veniamo come missionari, uomini e donne colti e santi che non vivono per se stessi, ma per il Signore che è morto e risorto per noi.
Il Vangelo che abbiamo ascoltato ci aiuta a comprendere il senso della vita cristiana ed anche del nostro essere qui. Quel dottore della legge aveva una domanda vera: come ereditare la vita eterna? Conosceva i comandamenti, come Gesù stesso riconosce, e si sentiva giusto, sicuro del suo amore per Dio, ma era ancora incerto su quello per il prossimo, come rivela la domanda rivolta al Signore: “Chi è il mio prossimo?” Forse siamo troppo sicuri anche noi del nostro amore. Infatti, siamo qui proprio perché vogliamo seguire il Signore. Eppure la risposta di Gesù ci interroga nel profondo in un mondo di uomini e donne che sono più simili al sacerdote e al levita che al samaritano, Il Vangelo non si sofferma a descrivere quell’uomo assalito dai briganti. Non dice se era ricco o povero, buono o cattivo, intelligente o ignorante. Era uno come tanti, come quelli che incontriamo o abbiamo incontrato anche noi nella nostra vita o per le strade di questa città.
Viene sorpreso su una strada deserta, derubato, picchiato a morte e lasciato lì. Passa un sacerdote, poi un levita, infine un samaritano. I primi due hanno fretta, devono correre al tempio, sono uomini religiosi, non hanno tempo da perdere con quel poveraccio. Poi passa un samaritano, uno che non c’entrava niente con quell’uomo. Se quel poveraccio era uno della Giudea, la distanza tra i due era accentuata dall’inimicizia esistente tra giudei e samaritani. Eppure proprio un estraneo si ferma. Perché? Quale è la differenza tra i primi due e il samaritano? Tutti e tre camminano sulla stessa strada e vedono quell’uomo. I primi due passano oltre, mentre il terzo, quando lo vede, ne ha compassione e si ferma. Cari fratelli e sorelle, la compassione fa la differenza, perché essa avvicina, colma le distanze, sconfigge la paura e i pregiudizi, insegna a prendersi cura di chi giace nel bisogno. Nei Vangeli sinottici la compassione è un sentimento tipico di Gesù. Per questo i Padri della Chiesa videro nel Buon Samaritano il Signore stesso, che si piega sulle ferite dell’umanità come guaritore e salvatore.
Il Vangelo ci interroga in un mondo in cui la distanza con i poveri è diventata un abisso, in cui la paura porta al fastidio, al disprezzo e persino alla violenza nei loro confronti. La compassione è il tratto distintivo del cristiano. Essa avvicina e insegna a compiere quei gesti semplici e concreti di solidarietà. La compassione è la via all’amore per il prossimo, che, come abbiamo visto nella parabola, passa attraverso la cura di quel poveraccio. È significativo che la domanda finale del Signore al dottore della legge ribalta quella iniziale, Il dottore della legge aveva chiesto chi fosse il suo prossimo. Gesù risponde: “Chi di questi tre ti sembra sia stato il prossimo di colui che è incappato nei briganti?” Per conoscere il prossimo bisogna farsi prossimi degli altri, a cominciare da coloro che si trovano nel bisogno. Il discepolo è colui che si fa prossimo alle ferite dei bisognosi, che non ha paura di vivere nella compassione e obbedisce all’invito di Gesù, senza i distinguo del mondo in cui viviamo: “Va, e anche tu fa lo stesso”.
Ci si potrebbe chiedere che c’entra questo brano evangelico con il nostro essere qui in una istituzione accademica, che ci chiede innanzitutto di essere bravi docenti e ottimi studenti.
Cari amici, senza l’amore per gli altri, soprattutto per i poveri, ogni scienza è inutile. Se non viviamo per il Signore e per gli altri, il nostro è tempo perso. L’apostolo Paolo, uomo di grande cultura e non certo di poca fede, in quel bel brano della lettera ai Romani, dopo averci istruiti sul senso e sulla novità della salvezza in Cristo, esorta a una vita nella carità, e termina le sue parole con quell’invito emblematico: “Non lasciarti vincere dal male, ma vinci con il bene il male”. Queste parole contengono una grande sapienza, che ci aiuta a riscoprire la forza e la straordinarietà della vita cristiana, ci rafforza nella necessità di entrare con lo studio nella conoscenza dei misteri divini per condurre la nostra battaglia per il bene con l’intelligenza di una ragione nutrita dalla fede e dalla carità. Siamo in un mondo dove tutto sembra diventare provvisorio, persino le scelte di vita, in cui tutto viene messo in discussione e l’uomo si sente padrone assoluto della vita e della morte. Perciò, rimaniamo ancorati al Signore, rafforziamo la nostra conoscenza di lui, amiamolo come egli ci ha amati, amiamo tuffi senza distinzione, per diventare annunciatori instancabili del Vangelo. Diventiamo missionari dell’amare di Dio, donne e uomini saggi e santi al servizio di Dio e dell’umanità. Che la Vergine Maria, Madre di Dio, ci aiuti ad accogliere con obbedienza la voce del Figlio, perché anche noi cresciamo in sapienza e grazia davanti a Dio e agli uomini!
Le Président Dos Santos reçoit le Cardinal catholique
Jul 22, 2007
Le Président angolais, José Eduardo dos Santos, à Luanda, le préfet de la Congrégation pour l'Evangélisation des peuples, le Cardinal Ivan Dias, en visite pastorale en Angola, depuis mercredi dernier.
Angola Press Agency (Luanda, 16 Juillet 2007) Un jour après son arrivée, le cardinal Ivan Dias a transmis un message "cordial et de salutation" du Pape Benoît XVI, au peuple angolais, au cours d'une audience lui concédée par le Premier ministre en exercice, João Baptista Kussumua.
Durante son séjour en Angola, le Prélât catholique présidera l'ouverture, vendredi prochain, à Luanda, de la Conférence de l'Association Inter-Régionale des Evêques de l'Afrique australe (IMBISA).
Pour cette rencontre de quatre jours, le chef de l'Etat, rappelle-t-il, a été invité à participer à son ouverture, au cours d'une audience qu'il a concédé, en Mars dernier, à une délégation des Evêques de la Conférence Episcopale d'Angola et São Tomé (CEAST).
Pope`s Envoy Urges Catholic Faithful to Preach the Gospel
Jul 18, 2007
The prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias Wednesday in Lubango city urged the Catholic faithful to preach the Gospel mainly to non-Christians and those who for any reason gave up Christianity.
Lubango, 18/07/2007 (Angop) – The prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias Wednesday in Lubango city urged the Catholic faithful to preach the Gospel mainly to non-Christians and those who for any reason gave up Christianity.
Speaking during a mass at Sé Cathedral of Lubango, Ivan Dias affirmed that this is every Christians’ mission, according to Jesus Christ`s order "go across the world and announce the gospel to all creatures".
The Cardinal, who also greeted and blessed believers of the archdiocese on the behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, also appealed to the faithful to display spiritual values.
He also called for the matrimonial life, protecting the life at every stage (no to abortion), seeking Priesthood, love to thy neighbour mainly for the poor and marginalised people.
After homily, the priest met with Catholic missionaries of Lubango Diocese.
Accompanied by the apostolic nuncio, Ângelo Beccio and the archbishop of Benguela Don Óscar Braga, the Cardinal held a courtesy meeting with the acting governor, Adriano da Silva upon his arrival in Huila.
The Pope`s envoy was expected back in Luanda this Wednesday.
Le Chef de l`Etat angolais a reçu le Cardinal Ivan Dias
Jul 17, 2007
Le Chef de l`Etat José Eduardo dos Santos recevant en audience le Cardinal Ivan Dias.
(angolapress-angop.ao) Luanda, 16/07 - Le Président de la République, José Eduardo dos Santos a reçu lundi en audience, à Luanda, le préfet de la Congrégation pour l`Evangélisation des Peuples, le Cardinal Ivan Dias.
Le cardinal préfet n`a fait aucune déclaration à la presse à l`issue de son audience au Palais présidentiel.
Un jour après son arrivée dans la capitale angolaise, le cardinal Ivan Dias a transmis un message du Pape Benoît XVI, au peuple angolais, au cours d`une audience que lui a accordée le premier ministre en exercice, João Baptista Kussumua.
Durante son séjour angolais, le Prélât catholique présidera vendredi prochain la cérémonie d`ouverture de la Conférence de l`Association Interrégionale des Evêques de l`Afrique Australe (IMBISA).
Top Vatican Official to Make Pastoral Visit
Jul 14, 2007
The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias, will make a pastoral visit to Angola from 11 to 23 July.
Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi, 10 July 2007) According to an itinerary published by FIDES, Cardinal Dias will have a meeting on Friday in the capital Luanda with missionaries serving in Luanda, Viana and Caxito. On Saturday, he will travel to the enclave of Cabinda to preside over mass at the cathedral and visit the Catholic mission at Landana.
On Sunday he will go to Uije to preside over mass concelebrated by the bishops of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Angola and Sao Tomé and take part in celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the creation of the diocese.
When he visits Huambo, next Tuesday, Cardinal Dias will have meetings with the governor, missionaries and with major seminarians. He will then go to Lubango to preside over a mass for the ten years of the Angolan Institute of Religious Sciences.
On July 20, in Luanda, Cardinal Dias will open the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa IMBISA, which includes the Catholic bishops of Angola and Sao Tomé, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Rome Cardinal Transmits Pope's Message to Angolan People
Jul 13, 2007
A "cordial and greeting" message from Pope Benedict XVI to the Angolan people, was handed over this Thursday, here, by the prefect of the Congregation's for Peoples Evangelisation, cardinal Ivan Dias, to the acting prime minister, João Baptista Kussumua.
Angola Press Agency (Luanda, July 12, 2007) During a special audience, the envoy of Benedict XVI said that he also transmitted blessings sent by the Holy Father to Angolans and well wishes for Angola's prosperity.
Ivan Dias is in the country since Wednesday, in a 13-day pastoral visit, in which he will open on July 20, a conference of the Southern African Inter Regional Bishops Association (IMBISA) and, two days after, the appointment of the first Bishop of Caxito's Diocese, António Jaka.
The prefect of the congregation for Peoples Evangelisation will also visit the dioceses of Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela and Malanje, the archdioceses of Huambo and Lubango, and will meet with bishops of Angola and Sao Tome's Episcopal Conference.
Le message de Grignion de Montfort aux prêtres du XXIe s.
Jun 11, 2007
« La nouvelle évangélisation, grand défi du nouveau millénaire »
ROME, Lundi 28 mai 2007 (ZENIT.org) – « Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort nous montre comment connaître, aimer, et servir Notre Seigneur en ayant Marie comme mère, modèle, et guide », affirme le cardinal Ivan Dias, qui a présenté ce « raccourci » pour la sainteté des prêtres du XXIe s.
Le « Traité sur la vraie dévotion à Marie », écrit par Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) début 1700, bien qu’il soit adressé à tous les chrétiens en général, peut être appliqué de manière particulière aux prêtres, pour qu’ils « soient saints » selon le désir exprimé par le pape Jean-Paul II, et qu’ils soient prêtres « selon le Sacré Cœur de Jésus », a affirmé le cardinal Ivan Dias, préfet de la congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des peuples, qui soulignait l’importance du « Traité » dans sa vie sacerdotale, au cours d’une intervention à Dublin, le 24 mai, dans le cadre d’un séminaire sur « La nouvelle évangélisation : prêtres et laïcs - Le grand défi du nouveau millénaire ».
Le cardinal Dias a confié que dans le petit volume providentiellement acquis dans une librairie de Bombay, il a connu le secret que Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort révélait, « un raccourci pour la sainteté » : « le secret est Marie, le chef d’œuvre de la création de Dieu. Louis de Montfort nous montre comment connaître, aimer, et servir Notre Seigneur avec Marie pour mère, modèle et guide. Ce livre est un trésor inestimable ». Dans le Traité, dont la lecture a été recommandée par de nombreux pontifes, Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort « présente une image vivante de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie très importante dans son rapport avec les prêtres ».
Le préfet de la Congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des peuples a réfléchi à partir des trois principales dimensions de la vocation sacerdotale : un appel à la sainteté, un appel au service, un appel au combat spirituel. « Saint Louis-Marie nous enseigne comment Marie peut assumer un rôle essentiel dans chacun d’eux » a dit le cardinal. La sainteté consiste à aimer Dieu par-dessus tout de tout notre cœur, de toute notre âme, et de tout notre esprit. Pour atteindre cet objectif, Grignion de Montfort invite à se consacrer complètement à Jésus à travers Marie, dans un « esclavage d’amour ». Un esclavage qui certainement ne dégrade pas la personne humaine, mais l’ennoblit et élève la dignité humaine ».
La Vierge Marie constitue un exemple à suivre : « Elle s’est remise totalement à Dieu comme sa créature sans rien garder pour elle-même. Son existence entière a été tournée uniquement vers Dieu. De cette façon la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie nous enseigne à nous prêtres à nous garder de nous mettre sur un piédestal ou à prendre pour nous-même la gloire due seulement à Dieu. Un prêtre doit constamment se rappeler à soi-même que sa vocation sacerdotale est un don libre à Dieu, non à cause de mérites personnels, de talents, ou d’objectifs atteints, mais pour sa sanctification et pour construire le peuple de Dieu ».
Concernant le thème de l’humble service de l’amour qui caractérise la vocation sacerdotale, le cardinal Dias a rappelé qu’à l’école de spiritualité de Montfort, « un prêtre qui se consacre comme esclave de l’amour ne peut jamais considérer comme sa propriété personnelle aucune chose qu’il possède : sa position et ses talents, ses biens matériels, les personnes confiées à ses soins pastoraux. Toute chose lui a été donnée seulement pour être administrée ». Quand l’Archange Gabriel s’est éloigné de Marie après l’Annonciation, Marie ne s’est pas complu de la nouvelle dignité dont elle avait été investie, d’être la Mère de Dieu, « mais alla en hâte aider sa cousine Elisabeth qui, à un âge avancé, attendait un enfant ». Aux noces de Cana, tandis que tous festoyaient pendant le banquet, Marie s’aperçut des jarres de vin qui étaient vides et convainquit Jésus d’accomplir son premier miracle.
« Pour Marie, être créature du Seigneur signifie sortir et aller à la rencontre des besoins des autres, et elle continue à faire cela aujourd’hui encore, de son trône du ciel. Marie nous enseigne… à mettre notre temps et nos talents au service de Dieu et de notre prochain ». Le cardinal a ensuite cité plusieurs épisodes évangéliques de la vie du Christ, liés au service, qui constituent un exemple valable pour le déroulement du ministère sacerdotal.
La troisième considération du cardinal Dias, liée à la vocation sacerdotale, concerne le combat spirituel. La lutte contre le mal a commencé dans le jardin d’Eden, au début de l’histoire humaine. Déjà Dieu voulut que Marie entrât en scène et y restât jusqu’à la fin des temps. Dans les plus de deux mille ans de l’histoire de l’Eglise, le combat entre les forces du bien et du mal s’est déroulé avec une intensité variable, dans l’Eglise en général et chez les individus. Les saints en particulier ont expérimenté cet affrontement plus pleinement, par des persécutions, des souffrances, des difficultés de tout genre. « De nombreuses personnes, y compris les prêtres, préfèrent vivre une vie médiocre pour ne pas être assaillis par Lucifer et par ses démons - a affirmé le Cardinal Dias. Montfort compris très vite cette bataille, et lui-même eut beaucoup à souffrir à cause des astuces du Malin ». L’antidote à toutes les tentations du Malin (richesse, succès, pouvoir) est la pauvreté d’esprit, qui signifie détachement de tout ce qui nous éloigne de Dieu, et surtout l’humilité, qui intériorise le cœur de Dieu et le fait regarder vers les pauvres et les humbles. C’est précisément ce que Montfort propose dans la consécration à Jésus à travers Marie, affirmait le cardinal préfet.
Le cardinal Dias a ensuite rappelé les apparitions de la Vierge à Sainte Catherine Labouré et la signification de la Médaille miraculeuse, en qui la Vierge est représentée en train d’écraser avec le pied la tête du serpent, le diable. « La plus grande humiliation de Lucifer - a affirmé le cardinal, est d’être écrasé par la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, un être purement humain appartenant à une catégorie inférieure à celle des anges : Elle l’a écrasé non seulement parce qu’elle est la Mère de Dieu, mais à cause de son humilité, qui est le coup de marteau avec lequel elle a écrasé l’orgueil invétéré de Lucifer ».
Le Cardinal Dias a conclu son intervention en rappelant qu’à l’époque où nous vivons, l’appel sublime au sacerdoce implique de devenir « des hommes de Dieu et des hommes pour les autres », et « dans le Traité sur la vraie dévotion à Marie nous avons un secret qui peut nous aider nous prêtres à porter en avant de façon efficace ces défis de notre vocation sacerdotale, de sorte qu’ils soient bien acceptés aux yeux de Dieu. Le secret est Marie, à travers qui Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort nous appelle à nous consacrer comme esclaves de l’amour de Jésus ».
« L’évangélisation dans le contexte du pluralisme religieux »
Mar 13, 2007
La faculté de Missiologie a 75 ans.
ROME, Lundi 12 mars 2007 (ZENIT.org) – Dans les différentes traditions religieuses présentes dans le monde, « les chrétiens doivent chercher à découvrir l’action de l’Esprit Saint », souligne le cardinal indien Dias.
« L’évangélisation dans le contexte du pluralisme religieux » : le cardinal Ivan Dias a en effet abordé ce thème, le 8 mars, lors d’une conférence à l’Université grégorienne pour le 75e anniversaire de la fondation de la Faculté de missiologie. Compte-rendu de l’agence Fides.
Le séminaire avait pour thème : « La mission évangélisatrice de l’Eglise au début du troisième millénaire ».
Après le salut du recteur de l’Université, le P. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, le doyen de la Faculté de missiologie, le P. Adam Wolanin a retracé le chemin des 75 ans en soulignant l’actualité de l’institution.
Pour sa part, le cardinal Ivan Dias, préfet de la congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des peuples, a souligné : « Depuis ses débuts l’Eglise a dû relever le défi de prêcher la Bonne Nouvelle de Jésus-Christ au milieu d’une variété de traditions religieuses, en commençant par la religion juive, dans laquelle le christianisme est né, puis avec les confessions existantes dans les nations où allaient les chrétiens - a mis en évidence le cardinal. Cependant l’évangélisation est un défi particulier à l’époque moderne, étant donné que nous vivons dans une époque où des personnes de religions différentes se rencontrent et interagissent plus qu’à n’importe quelle autre période de l’histoire humaine ».
Rappelant l’enseignement du Concile sur les rapports entre l’Eglise et les religions non chrétiennes, le cardinal Dias a souligné que devant le vaste éventail des traditions religieuses présentes dans le monde, « les chrétiens doivent chercher à découvrir l’action de l’Esprit Saint - c'est-à-dire les semences de vérité comme a voulu les appeler le Concile Vatican II - et les conduire, sans aucun complexe de supériorité, à la pleine connaissance de la vérité en Jésus-Christ ».
De même les chrétiens peuvent retrouver dans les religions non chrétiennes certaines valeurs de leur foi que parfois il ont oublié ou négligé, comme le jeûne rigoureux, la prière fréquente, l’ascétisme… Il faut cependant être attentif : « Sous prétexte de ne pas mettre d’obstacle au dialogue interreligieux, certains vont jusqu’à mettre Jésus, qui est vrai Dieu et vrai homme, sur le même plan que les fondateurs, parfois mythologiques, d’autres religions. Une telle attitude contredit le mandat de Notre Seigneur de prêcher l’évangile et de faire des disciples dans le monde entier… C’est notre devoir de faire mûrir les semences du Verbe afin qu’elles trouvent leur plénitude dans le Christ ».
Le préfet du dicastère missionnaire s’est ensuite arrêté sur le rapport entre évangélisation et dialogue interreligieux : « L’Esprit Saint est le protagoniste principal de l’évangélisation… le dialogue interreligieux est un moyen indirect d’évangélisation, par lequel les chrétiens présentent leur identité et sont attentifs aux convictions religieuses de leurs interlocuteurs non chrétiens. Il s’agit d’exposer ou de proposer leur foi, sans vouloir l’imposer à personne ».
Parmi les différentes formes de dialogue interreligieux, le cardinal Dias a cité : le dialogue de la vie, « dans lequel les personnes s’efforcent de vivre dans un esprit d’ouverture et de cordialité à l’égard de leur prochain » ; le dialogue des œuvres, auquel collaborent des chrétiens et des croyants d’autres confessions ; le dialogue des échanges théologiques et le dialogue de l’expérience religieuse, « dans lequel les personnes, enracinées dans leurs traditions religieuses, partagent les richesses spirituelles, par exemple la prière et la contemplation ».
Le cardinal Dias a enrichi le rapport de quelques expériences vécues pendant son ministère pastoral en Inde, confirmant l’efficacité du dialogue interreligieux dans les modalités présentées. Enfin le préfet de la Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples a rappelé que le dialogue « se fonde sur l’espérance et sur la charité, et portera des fruits dans l’Esprit », qu’en outre les autres religions constituent un défi positif pour l’Eglise : elles la stimulent en effet à reconnaître les signes de la présence du Christ et de l’action de l’Esprit et à approfondir leur identité.
De là l’esprit qui doit animer le dialogue dans le contexte de la mission : « L’interlocuteur doit être cohérent avec ses traditions et ses convictions religieuses, et ouvert pour comprendre celles de l’autre, sans dissimulation ou fermeture, mais avec vérité, humilité, loyauté, en sachant que le dialogue peut enrichir chacun. Il ne doit y avoir aucune abdication ni irénisme, mais un témoignage réciproque pour un progrès commun sur le chemin de la recherche et de l’expérience religieuse, et en même temps pour dépasser les préjugés, les intolérances, les malentendus. Le dialogue tend à la purification et à la conversion intérieure qui, si elle est poursuivie avec docilité à l’Esprit, sera spirituellement fructueuse ».
Nigeria 'll be great — PONTIF
Feb 20, 2007
Catholic Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI yesterday hailed Nigeria’s acceptance of Christian evangelism saying the country had the potentials and ability to provide leadership in the much needed missionaries of the world.
(Vanguard, February 20, 2007) ENUGU — The Pope observed that even in the face of scarce resources, the people had lived in unity and had gone about their services with little or no reward, stressing that with such selfless spirit, the country was capable of providing leadership to the world.
In a homily delivered in Enugu during a concelebrated High Mass by the Vatican’s Director of Evangelism, Ivan Cardinal Dias at the 25th anniversary of the visit of the late Pope John Paul II to Nigeria, however, challenged Nigerians to be “steadfast and trust in God always”.
According to him, most countries of the world had undergone various transformations but stated that such transformations had been positive depending on how well and meticulous the people had devoted themselves to it.
He said he was confident that Nigeria would be “great” going by the fact that the biggest seminary in the world, The Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu is located in Nigeria, adding that Nigeria would soon be in a position of being the major provider of the much needed missionaries for evangelical work throughout the world.
He urged Nigerians particularly the people of the Eastern region not to relent in their belief and worship of God and imbibe the habit of loving one another no matter the circumstance. He added that it was vital for any progress in life and development.
The Catholic Pontiff paid tribute to the Former Bishop of Enugu, Late Bishop Godfrey Mary Okoye who founded the Daughters of Divine Love, an organization evangelizing in every nook and cranny of the world, stressing that the contribution of the Centre had impacted positively to the world.
The acceptance of the message of Christianity by the people of the region, he said, had put them in the forefront of spreading the message not only in Nigeria but also in the whole world.
The Pope further recognized the potentials of the people of the region in the affinity to vocations and urged them to continue in that direction as they would in no distant future reap from their sweat.
Mensaje a los niños de España del cardenal Ivan Dias, prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos
Jan 27, 2007
Queridos niños y niñas,
Estoy muy contento de saber que el próximo día 28 de enero celebraréis la Jornada Nacional de la Infancia Misionera, con el lema «Ponte en camino… eres misionero».
(VERITAS, 26/01/2007) Madrid - El mensaje de este año hace referencia a los infatigables pies de los mensajeros del Evangelio, aquellos muy afortunados hombres y mujeres que el Señor ha puesto en camino para ir al encuentro de todos. Son misioneros, son «apóstoles» que anuncian el amor de Dios con el testimonio de su vida y con la sinceridad de su palabra.
Sí, queridos amigos, los misioneros nos dan un gran ejemplo y nos invitan a «salir» de nosotros mismos, nos ayudan a abrir los ojos de nuestro corazón y a escuchar la voz de Dios, nos animan a ir hacia todos aquellos que no conocen o se han olvidado del maravilloso amor de Jesucristo, nuestro hermano, Señor y Salvador.
España es un país que siempre ha dado una respuesta generosa a las exigencias de la evangelización. Hoy en día son muchos los sacerdotes, religiosos, y misioneros laicos españoles que dan la vida por Jesús en los territorios de misión. Vuestras oraciones y vuestra participación en las iniciativas de la Obra de la Santa Infancia, contribuirán a sostener su vocación y su misión. Ellos os necesitan.
Como Prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos pido a Dios que os bendiga abundantemente. El Papa Benedicto XVI conoce muy bien las actividades de la Infancia Misionera. Él reza todos los días por los niños y niñas del mundo, especialmente por aquellos que son víctimas de la guerra, del hambre y de la violencia.
Me uno a las oraciones del Santo Padre y pido que, con alegría y sin desánimo, también vosotros anunciéis el Evangelio de Jesús a vuestras familias, a vuestros amigos y a todos aquellos que necesitan conocer el gozoso anuncio de la salvación.
Ruego a la Santísima Virgen María, Estrella de la Evangelización, que os proteja y os haga crecer en gracia y en sabiduría ante Dios y ante los hombres.
Roma, 22 de enero de 2007
IVAN CARDENAL DIAS
Prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos
Der heilige Franz Xaver, Vorbild für die Mission
Dec 05, 2006
Der Präfekt der Kongregation für die Evangelisierung der Völker, Kardinal Ivan Dias, bekräftigte am ersten Adventsonntag, dass der heilige Franz Xaver ein leuchtendes Vorbild für den modernen Missionar sei.
ROM, 5. Dezember 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Der Gedenktag des großen Asienmissionars (1506-1552) wird jedes Jahr am 3. Dezember begangen.
„Der Missionar ist ein einfacher Mensch, der so spricht wie eine Mutter zu ihren Kindern, Gott und die Muttergottes aus ganzem Herzen liebt und den Samen so tief einpflanzt, dass die Früchte auch nach 250 Jahren noch bewundert werden können“, erklärte der Kurienkardinal während der Eucharistiefeier in der römischen Kirche „del Gesú“.
Kardinal Dias wies in seiner Predigt, deren Inhalt von der Nachrichtenagentur „Fides“ verbreitet wurde, auf die Bedeutung der Göttlichen Vorsehung im Leben des heiligen Schutzpatrons der Missionen hin, der in Japan noch vor der Erfüllung seiner missionarischen Ziele schwer erkrankt war und schließlich sterben musste. In diesem Zusammenhang erinnerte Kardinal Dias auch an die Verfolgungen und das Martyrium der Katholiken in diesem asiatischen Land.
Er verwies auf die Tatsache, dass nach dem Tod von Franz Xaver 250 Jahre verstreichen sollten, ehe der Papst einen Apostolischen Delegaten nach Japan entsandte. Das Marienbild, das er ihm mitgegeben habe, werde noch heute in Nagasaki verehrt.
Der Apostolische Delegat sei nach seiner Ankunft gefragt worden, ob er vom „Mann mit dem weißen Gewand“, als vom Papst in Rom komme, ob er verheiratet sei und ob er die Gottesmutter verehre. Nachdem er auf diese drei Fragen geantwortet hatte, sei der Delegat als echter Vertreter der Kirche akzeptiert worden.
« La formation missionnaire, priorité des priorités »
Nov 17, 2006
Premier congrès missionnaire d’Afrique occidentale
ROME, Jeudi 16 novembre 2006 (ZENIT.org) – « La formation missionnaire du personnel apostolique constitue la priorité des priorités », affirme le message du cardinal Ivan Dias, préfet de la congrégation romaine pour l’Evangélisation des Peuples, à l’occasion du premier congrès missionnaire d’Afrique occidentale, qui s’est ouvert hier au Burkina Faso, à Ouagadougou, et se terminera le 19 novembre.
Une lecture de l’agence vaticane Fides qui publie sur son site le texte intégral en français du message du cardinal Dias (www.evangelizatio.org).
C’est en effet le premier congrès missionnaire organisé par la Conférence épiscopale régionale de l’Afrique occidentale francophone (CERAO). Le cardinal Dias a adressé son message aux organisateurs et aux participants de cet événement « d’une grande importance ecclésiale ».
Au nom de la congrégation, le cardinal salue fraternellement Mgr Théodore Adrien Sarr, archevêque de Dakar et président de la CERAO, Mgr Philippe Ouédraogo, président de la conférence épiscopale de Burkina Faso et du Niger et président de la Commission épiscopale pour les Missions et les POM de la CERAO, et Mgr Jean-Marie Compaoré qui a offert l’hospitalité de l’archidiocèse de Ouagadougou.
Le congrès a pour thème : « Soyez mes témoins jusqu’aux extrémités de la terre, pour porter ma parole et rassembler les enfants de Dieu dispersés ».
Il doit aborder les questions de la vocation missionnaire des Eglises particulières de cette région de l’Afrique.
« Vous pouvez offrir votre généreuse contribution à l’évangélisation de votre continent et du monde, écrit le cardinal Dias, à partir de la très riche expérience de vos communautés chrétiennes, suscitant de manière concrète et féconde un engagement renouvelé pour la mission Ad Gentes ».
Le cardinal Dias souligne l’importance de ce congrès, qu’il salue « avec joie et espérance ».
Notons qu’il se déroule quelques semaines avant le congrès missionnaire continental de Dar-es-Salaam, sur la lancée des grandes épopées missionnaires du XIXe siècle et de l’Assemblée du synode des évêques pour l’Afrique de 1994.
Le cardinal souligne que les synodes diocésains et nationaux témoignent du « dynamisme missionnaire des Eglises locales » représentées au congrès : « Vous ne vous réunissez pas pour inventer des programmes et des plans pastoraux, mais pour vous renouveler et rénover votre façon d’être, de vivre et de témoigner de l’Evangile ».
Citant le message de Benoît XVI pour la Journée missionnaire mondiale d’octobre 2006, le cardinal Dias rappelle que « l’amour de Dieu pour chaque personne constitue le cœur de l’expérience et de l’annonce de l’Evangile, et tous ceux qui l’accueillent en deviennent à leur tour des témoins ».
« A l’homme faible, soumis au pouvoir de la mort, de la souffrance et du péché, Dieu, riche en miséricorde, offre la vie éternelle afin que tous les hommes soient sauvés et arrivent à la plénitude de la vérité » poursuit le Message, qui souligne les étapes essentielles de l’initiation à la foi, exprimées dans le catéchuménat, qui scandent le long parcours de notre « être » dans le Christ afin que le Christ soit formé en nous (cf Gal 4,19). C’est en suivant ces étapes de catéchuménat que les Communautés ecclésiales de la région africaine sont nées et se sont formées.
Les travaux du congrès permettront de réaliser une histoire panoramique de la mission et de prendre en considération certains éléments importants qui sont en jeu : la prière personnelle et communautaire, la formation missionnaire, l’animation missionnaire et la coopération missionnaire.
« Pour la congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des Peuples, écrit le cardinal Dias, la formation missionnaire du personnel apostolique constitue la priorité des priorités. L’esprit missionnaire ne peut pas progresser si les Evêques, les prêtres, les religieux et les laïcs ne prennent pas davantage conscience que l’annonce du message évangélique est profondément inscrite dans leur vocation de consacrés ».
La priorité de l’animation missionnaire vient de la conviction que l’Eglise est née de l’Evangile, vit de l’Evangile et doit annoncer l’Evangile du Salut, affirme encore le préfet du dicastère missionnaire. Renouvelant son encouragement pour toute initiative qui réveille l’esprit missionnaire et suscite des vocations missionnaires dans la région, le cardinal Dias conclut son message en invoquant la bénédiction divine sur les travaux du congrès, qu’il confie à la sollicitude maternelle de Marie, Reine des Apôtres et Mère de l’Eglise.
Il Cardinal Dias propone all’Università Urbaniana di “vivere alla scuola dell'unico maestro”
Nov 01, 2006
Presiedendo la Messa di invocazione dello Spirito Santo all’inaugurazione dell’anno accademico
ROMA, martedì, 17 ottobre 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Evitare “la gloria effimera di questo mondo” e mettere in pratica il Vangelo d’amore di Gesù, vivendo alla sua scuola, quella dell’“unico maestro”: è la proposta del prefetto del dicastero missionario nel nuovo anno accademico della Pontificia Università Urbaniana.
Nominato di recente alla guida della Congregazione vaticana per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli, il Cardinale Ivan Dias ha presieduto per la prima volta, come gran cancelliere dell’istituzione, l’inaugurazione del corso con la celebrazione della Santa Messa il 12 ottobre.
Durante la celebrazione eucaristica, è stato proclamato il Vangelo di Giovanni (13, 1-17), che inizia dicendo: “Gesù, sapendo che era giunta la sua ora di passare da questo mondo al Padre, dopo aver amato i suoi che erano nel mondo, li amò sino alla fine”.
E’ così che Gesù “vuole indicarci che l'unica vittoria sul male e sulla morte è l'amore”, ha detto il porporato indiano nella sua omelia.
“La generosità non è sempre la caratteristica della vita di ogni giorno”, per paura “di perdere la prosperità e il benessere”, ha constatato il Cardinale; “sembra che amare fino all'estremo privi di qualcosa di essenziale. Si ha timore di distaccarsi da se stessi, di rinunciare a qualcosa di proprio, fossero le cose, il tempo, le abitudini, i sentimenti e i pensieri, le convinzioni”.
“Nella vita di oggi si cerca spesso un'altra grandezza, fosse quella del ruolo, del possesso, del potere sugli altri, dell'importanza, dei riconoscimenti”, ha aggiunto.
Gesù, invece, “si avvicina alla nostra paura di perderci e di dare”; “Gesù sofferente, povero, si china su di noi per purificarci dall'arroganza dell'amore per noi stessi”, ha sottolineato.
“La nostra grandezza – ha detto il presidente del dicastero missionario al corpo accademico dell’Urbaniana – è essere come lui e con lui. Questa è anche la nostra felicità: una vita vissuta nell'amore”.
“Non seguiamo le facili illusioni di un mondo che continua a dirci ‘salva te stesso’ – ha esortato –. Mettiamo in pratica questo Vangelo di amore, di benevolenza, di compassione, per continuare la nostra lotta contro le potenze del male facendo il bene, perché dalla nostra vita, qui all'Università e ovunque siamo e saremo, possano sgorgare energie di amore e di bene per noi e per il mondo intero”.
“Che nessuno di noi insegua la gloria effimera di questo mondo, ma nell'abbassamento”, che non è “servilismo”, “possiamo indicare a tutti il segreto della vita cristiana, che non basta studiare sui libri o nelle aule”, “ma che bisogna vivere alla scuola dell'unico maestro, il Signore Gesù Cristo”, ha concluso.
La Pontificia Università Urbaniana, le cui origini risalgono al 1627, fa parte del dicastero missionario. Le sue funzioni di ricerca e insegnamento si sviluppano nell’ambito del sistema educativo della Santa Sede regolato dalla Congregazione vaticana per l’Educazione Cattolica.
L’Università ha legami accademici con numerosi seminari e istituti – circa cento con 11.000 studenti – di Filosofia, Teologia, Missiologia e Diritto Canonico presenti nei cinque continenti.
Il numero degli studenti immatricolati all’Urbaniana è di circa 1.400 provenienti da oltre cento Paesi; i docenti sono 200, un terzo dei quali non italiani.
L’universalità caratterizza la Pontificia Università Urbaniana nel contesto delle altre università pontificie romane. Ciò si esprime non solo nel numero dei Paesi di origine di studenti e professori – e delle istituzioni collegate –, ma soprattutto nell’attenzione allo studio delle culture e delle grandi religioni mondiali con cui la Chiesa cattolica entra in relazione nel suo impegno missionario “ad gentes”.
Il dialogo interreligioso non sia interpretato come il nuovo credo relavitistico
Sept 16, 2006
Cosi’ il cardinale Ivan Dias, all’apertura di un seminario per nuovi vescovi ordinati in Paesi di missione
(12 settembre 2006 – Radio Vaticana) Si è aperto in Vaticano, domenica 10 settembre, il Seminario di studio promosso dalla Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli, a cui partecipano 99 Vescovi ordinati negli ultimi due anni nei Paesi di missione di Africa, Asia, America e Oceania. Ad aprire l’evento, il cardinale Ivan Dias, prefetto della Congregazione, con un discorso su “Origini, sviluppo e competenze della Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli”. Sull’intervento del cardinale Ivan Dias, reso noto dall’agenzia Fides, il servizio di Alessandro Gisotti:
“Il dialogo interreligioso non può essere interpretato come il nuovo credo relavitistico che si oppone ad ogni conversione e missione”: è il richiamo del cardinale Ivan Dias che - parlando a 99 nuovi presuli - ha ribadito come la Chiesa sia certamente “impegnata in un dialogo vero, non in una pura e semplice trattativa con i nostri fratelli credenti”. Il compito urgente del dialogo interreligioso, ha aggiunto, è allora “quello di aprire la via dell’annuncio di Cristo Via-Verità-Vita”. Tale dialogo, pertanto, “non può sostituire l’annuncio, ma deve essere orientato all’annuncio”.
Il porporato ha indicato l’animazione missionaria come una delle sfide prioritarie per il dicastero vaticano: “Il vescovo – ha avvertito il cardinale Dias - è per sua natura sacramentale, un missionario, inviato per annunciare Cristo al mondo”. Per questo, è stata la sua riflessione, “in ogni attività pastorale, l’animazione missionaria deve costituire il suo principale impegno”. Il capo dicastero ha così messo l’accento sulla “formazione nei territori di missione”. Una formazione che riguarda tutti dai vescovi ai catechisti. Si tratta, ha detto il cardinale Dias, di “una priorità per i Paesi di missione, che stanno vivendo un momento di maturazione e di crescita, che richiede una solida e permanente formazione di tutti, se si vuole salvaguardare il futuro delle nostre Chiese”.
Il cardinale Dias ha poi rivolto il pensiero alla sfida del nazionalismo, del tribalismo e del fenomeno delle caste. “Predicate con insistenza e con coraggio contro queste forme di divisione che oscurano il volto autentico di Cristo e della Chiesa – è stata la sua viva esortazione - e causano divisioni, discordie, e, spesso, anche morte tra coloro che pure sono fratelli in Cristo e figli di un unico Padre”.
“Oggi, come ieri – ha concluso il cardinale Dias - sorgono nuove realtà missionarie”. Alle classiche “aree non cristiane”, ha rilevato, “si associano ambienti “Oggi, come ieri – ha concluso il cardinale Dias - sorgono nuove realtà missionarie”. Alle classiche “aree non cristiane”, ha rilevato, “si associano ambienti socio-culturali che sembrano aver rinunziato al patrimonio evangelico”. Si tratta, ha avvertito il porporato, delle “nuove piazze sulle quali è urgente proclamare la buona novella del Regno; sono le nuove sfide della Chiesa del Terzo Millennio”. Sfide con le quali sono chiamati a confrontarsi i vescovi, “costruttori” della Chiesa “che ha iniziato un nuovo Millennio della sua storia”.
Alla data del 30 giugno 2006, le Circoscrizioni ecclesiastiche dipendenti dalla Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli erano 1082, rappresentando quasi il 40 per cento della presenza della Chiesa universale nel mondo.
Cardinal Dias Has High Hopes for India
Jul 03, 2006
Urges Believers to Ensure Country's Spiritual Growth
BOMBAY, India, JUNE 28, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The former archbishop of Bombay urged believers to ensure that India grows not only as an economic power but above all in spiritual and moral values.
Recently appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias bid farewell to the archdiocese in which he was born and of which he has been pastor for the past decade.
Some 4,000 people from various faiths gathered Sunday in the Jesuit College of St. Peter in Bandra for the event.
Addressing those present, the cardinal said that India could make great strides ahead in spiritual progress, to be measured not so much by the stock exchange but by the growth of civic sense and moral values.
"Christ loves India and India needs Christ," he stressed.
For their part, participants in the ceremony praised the cardinal for his significant commitment to interreligious dialogue in the country, as reported in a note issued by the bishops' conference of India.
Cardinal Dias said that three evils threaten the country: "ethnic chauvinism, the caste system and corruption."
He expressed the hope that India's many parties and politicians would show themselves to be statesmen of moral integrity, committed to working for the poor and outcast.
Church's commitment
The former archbishop of Bombay took advantage of the occasion to reiterate that the work of the Church in India, in the fields of education, social welfare and health, does not have, and never did have, the aim of proselytism.
He stressed the Church's aspect of commitment, not proselytism, a month ago, highlighting the figures of this dedicated work.
Although Christians represent only 2.3% of the Indian population, the cardinal observed, "they attend to 20% of the whole of primary education in the country, 10% of health and literacy community programs, 25% of care for orphans and widows, and 30% of care for the disabled, lepers and AIDS sufferers."
"The vast majority of those who make use of these institutions" belong to religions other than Christianity, he noted.
Such institutions are "very appreciated by Hindus, Muslims" and members of other creeds or of no creed, "who admire Christians for their dedicated service to the suffering, the marginalized, the illiterate and the oppressed," the cardinal added.
Before his address on Sunday, Cardinal Dias presided over the farewell Eucharist concelebrated by 18 bishops. Members of the Ecumenical Fellowship of Bishops and personalities who are actively involved in interfaith dialogue were also present.
El cardenal Dias se despide de la India desvelándole claves de auténtico crecimiento
Jul 03, 2006
Nombrado prefecto del dicasterio misionero, se traslada a Roma
BOMBAY, miércoles, 28 junio 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Un apremiante llamamiento ha lanzado el hasta ahora arzobispo de Bombay a fin de que la India crezca no sólo en poder económico, sino sobre todo en valores espirituales y morales.
Recientemente nombrado por el Papa nuevo prefecto de la Congregación vaticana para la Evangelización de los Pueblos (Zenit, 22 mayo 2006), el cardenal indio Ivan Dias se despidió el domingo de la archidiócesis donde nació y de la que ha sido pastor la última década.
Unas 4.000 personas de diferentes credos acudieron al «Jesuit College of St. Peter» (en Bandra, Bombay) a la despedida del prelado.
Ante los asistentes, el cardenal Dias no dudó en afirmar que la India podría hacer grandes progresos en el campo espiritual, cuya medida no tiene que ver tanto con los índices económicos como con el crecimiento del sentido cívico y de los valores morales.
«Cristo ama a la India, y la India necesita a Cristo», recalcó.
Por su parte, los participantes en el acto le elogiaron por su significativo compromiso en el dialogo interreligioso en el país, según recoge una nota informativa difundida por la Conferencia de los Obispos Católicos de la India (CBCI).
El purpurado alertó además de tres amenazas para el país: «el chovinismo étnico, el sistema de castas y la corrupción».
Y expresó su esperanza acerca de que los muchos partidos y políticos indios se muestren por encima de todo por su integridad moral, comprometidos a trabajar por los pobres y los «sin casta».
Aprovechó también su despedida para reiterar que la labor de la Iglesia católica en la India en el campo de la educación, el bienestar social y la salud no tiene, y jamás ha tenido, objetivo proselitista.
Este aspecto de entrega, no de proselitismo, de la Iglesia lo recalcó un mes atrás, recordado las cifras de esta labor desinteresada: los cristianos sólo representan el 2,3% de la población india (1,8% del total de habitantes del país es católico), pero a pesar de ser una «diminuta minoría» «atienden el 20% de toda la educación primaria del país, el 10% de los programas comunitarios de alfabetización y sanidad, el 25% de la atención de los huérfanos y viudas, y el 30% del cuidado de los discapacitados, leprosos y pacientes con Sida».
«La gran mayoría de quienes se valen de estas instituciones» pertenecen a religiones distinta del Cristianismo --añadió entonces--. Tales instituciones son «muy apreciadas por hindúes, musulmanes» y miembros de otros credos --o de ninguno--, «quienes admiran a los cristianos por su servicio desinteresado por los que sufren, los marginados, los analfabetos y los oprimidos» (Zenit, 24 mayo 2006).
1.095 millones de habitantes tiene la India: hindúes en un 80,5% y musulmanes en un 13,4%.
Antes de su discurso del domingo, el cardenal Dias presidió la Eucaristía de despedida que concelebraron dieciocho obispos.
Estuvieron presentes también miembros de la Asociación Ecuménica de Obispos y personalidades activamente implicadas en el diálogo interreligioso.
Cita la CBCI a Kala Archarya –del Centro Interreligioso del “Somaiya College” de Bombay--, quien describió al purpurado como una «luz en la India» y recalcó su impulso en el diálogo interreligioso «tras las huellas de Juan Pablo II». «El mundo entero puede encontrar su sendero en la ruta que él ha trazado», confió.
Cardinal Dias Leaves Bombay for New Vatican Post
Jul 01, 2006
India has the potential to develop into a spiritual and economic powerhouse, according to the Holy See’s head of Evangelisation.
(The Universe, June 30, 2006) The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias, the former Archbishop of Bombay, bid farewell to the archdiocese in which he was born to take up his new post earlier this week at an event attended by 4,000 well wishers.
"Christ loves India and India needs Christ," said the Cardinal.
"I have a dream that India may have an abundance, not only of political parties, but also statesmen and women who are outstanding in moral integrity and are alert to combat the three evils - casteism, corruption and communalism."
The archbishop also took the opportunity to reiterate that the work of the Church in India, in the fields of education, social welfare and health, does not have, and never did have, the aim of proselytism.
He also noted that although Christians make up just 2.3% of the Indian population, the cardinal observed, "they attend to 20% of the whole of primary education in the country, 10% of health and literacy community programs, 25% of care for orphans and widows, and 30% of care for the disabled, lepers and AIDS sufferers."
"The vast majority of those who make use of these institutions" belong to religions other than Christianity," he noted.
Such institutions are "very appreciated by Hindus, Muslims" and members of other creeds or of no creed, "who admire Christians for their dedicated service to the suffering, the marginalized, the illiterate and the oppressed," the cardinal added.
Cardinal calls for more thrust on inter-religious dialogue
Jun 28, 2006
Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Mumbai, who takes on a coveted office in the Vatican today, stressed that the health, educational and social projects of the Catholic Church in India had "no ulterior motives of conversions".
(Indo-Asian News Service, 27 June, 2006) MUMBAI: Addressing a huge gathering at a grand farewell ceremony in Mumbai on Sunday night, the prelate said there was need for more thrust on inter-religious dialogue among people of diverse religious traditions to share ideas, experiences and to undertake common action for communal amity.
Cardinal Dias has been appointed the 37th Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, a crucial Vatican department, in the first such appointment of an Indian cardinal.
The authority of the Vatican department to be headed by Cardinal Dias extends to over five continents, with over 2,400 archbishops and bishops under his charge for various works of the church. He is known as the "Red Pope" due to the extraordinary authority and influence he would wield.
He stressed on the relief and rehabilitation work done in Raigad district of Konkan region and the over 100 houses handed over to tribal victims rendered homeless by the monsoon deluge there by the Catholic Church last year.
The prelate said it is his dream that Indians would "progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues".
"I have a dream that India may have an abundance of not only of political parties and politicians but above all, of statesmen and women, who will place the well-being of the whole nation before their personal, party and petty interests," said the cardinal.
"The politicians should be ever alert and ready to combat the three evils of communalism, casteism and corruption, which pose a constant threat to our beloved Bharat Mata (Mother India).
"I have a dream that politicians should be known for their noble intentions and selfless love for the poor and the marginalised. They should be outstanding in moral integrity.
"I have a dream that the thirsting India’s teeming millions should seek to be led ‘from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality," he said quoting from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
Cardinal Dias is fluent in 18 languages.
"I have a dream that the wonderful megapolis of Mumbai and the whole of the Indian subcontinent may progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues," he said.
"Cardinal Dias gave a fresh impetus for inter-religious dialogue to bring about not only religious harmony but a deep appreciation of the other faiths," said Kala Acharya, director of K J Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskrit Peetham.
"He is a staunch defender of human rights and freedom of religious freedom," Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the top body of 210 Indian bishops, said.
"He is one of India’s distinguished and prominent Catholic prelates, who challenged the political leadership to respect the lives of the unborn, the infirm and the unwanted," said Father Anthony Charanghat, editor of 157-year-old The Examiner weekly.
"In the stormy seas of moral and ethical turmoil, Cardinal Dias was fearless to be in the forefront against issues like abortion, euthanasia, contraception, illicit relationships and unethical scientific human engineering," he added.
In 1961, as a young priest, Dias was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy for Vatican Diplomats. Since then, it has been a steady rise for him in the Vatican’s inner circle in various capacities, including as a high profile ambassador to various European, African and Asian countries during the reign of the charismatic and globe trotting Polish Pope John Paul II.
Known for his orthodoxy and as a staunch advocate of the traditional doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Dias is very close to Pope Benedict XVI and the inner coterie of the Vatican regime.
Bombay catholics remember pastoral leadership of Cardinal Dias
Jun 27, 2006
With prayers and best wishes, Catholics of Bombay archdiocese said farewell to Cardinal Ivan Dias, who goes to Rome on June 26 evening to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Mumbai (UCAN, June 26, 2006) -- In the last of a series of farewell functions, 2,000 Catholics gathered on June 25 at St. Stanislaus School in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Mumbai is 1,410 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. A prayer-dance, songs and messages of congratulations highlighted the function.
Cardinal Dias, who has led the archdiocese for nine years, is the first Asian to head the powerful Vatican congregation that administers mission dioceses, mostly in Asia and Africa.
Father Anthony Charanghat, the archdiocesan spokesperson, told UCA News that Bombay "is grateful" to the cardinal for giving it "a sense of united direction and spirited vision by his dynamic and uncompromising leadership."
Sister Sunanda of Uttan parish told UCA News at the last farewell program "we are happy for the cardinal" because he is embarking on a new mission.
Sister Asha, another nun from Uttan, said Cardinal Dias has "done a lot" for the city, and Catholics in Bombay archdiocese are happy he is called to "bigger challenges." She added, "We will continue praying for him."
Mercy Mathew, a laywoman, told UCA News the cardinal's visit to her Worli parish "touched our hearts and his presence among us made a big difference."
Thomas Lobo, archdiocesan pastoral council vice president, said the Church in Mumbai is indebted to Cardinal Dias "for the spiritual fervor he engendered in the archdiocese by the force of his own personal example of prayer and piety." Lobo noted that the farewell's venue was the same place where the prelate had been welcomed in 1997 as the new archbishop of Bombay. He became a cardinal four years later.
The layman cited the initiative of Cardinal Dias to convene the 2001 archdiocesan synod as one of the cardinal's achievements. "He has ensured a greater involvement of the laity in the affairs of the Church," Lobo said.
Other achievements, he said, include the cardinal's "strong advocacy" of the Small Christian Community movement, as well as establishing lay ministries and ordaining India's first permanent deacons in his archdiocese.
Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar and secretary general of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India attended the event. The Jesuit prelate said that upon their first meeting in 1997, Cardinal Dias impressed him as "welcoming and homely." He also said, "His zest for work is proverbial."
Cardinal Dias repeatedly thanked the people for their love and prayers. Then, alluding to allegations that the Church uses social works as ploys to convert people, the cardinal said that Church health-care, educational and social projects "have no ulterior motives and no conversion strings attached."
He also told the gathering, "I have a dream that India may have an abundance, not only of political parties, but also statesmen and women who are outstanding in moral integrity and are alert to combat the three evils - caste-ism, corruption and communalism."
During the previous week, the cardinal attended several other farewell and congratulatory ceremonies organized by various groups in the archdiocese.
One such event was at a remote parish in Raigad, where he launched relief and rehabilitation work after floods hit the region in 2005. Father Carlton Kinny of Mahad parish said, "We organized a small function for him" because he wanted to visit the area where "a lot of relief work has been undertaken."
The priest also pointed out to UCA News that when Cardinal Dias visited the area after the floods, he was upset to see the neglected and homeless tribal people. Father Kinny summed up his regard for the cardinal by saying he is "a firm leader and a good shepherd, and we will miss him."
Church has no ulterior motives of conversion: Cardinal Dias
Jun 27, 2006
Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Mumbai, who takes on a coveted office in the Vatican on Tuesday, stressed that all the health, educational and social projects of the Catholic Church in India had 'no ulterior motives of conversions'.
Mumbai, June 26 (Indo-Asian News Service) Addressing a huge gathering at a grand farewell ceremony in Mumbai Sunday night, the prelate said there was need of more thrust on inter-religious dialogue among people of diverse religious traditions to share ideas, experiences and to undertake common action for communal amity.
Cardinal Dias has been appointed the 37th Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a crucial Vatican department, in the first such appointment of an Indian cardinal.
The authority of the Vatican department to be headed by Cardinal Dias extends to over five continents, with over 2,400 archbishops and bishops under his charge for various works of the church. He is known as the 'Red Pope' due to the extraordinary authority and influence he would wield.
He stressed on the relief and rehabilitation work done in Raigad district of Konkan region and the over 100 houses handed over to tribal victims rendered homeless by the monsoon deluge there by the Catholic Church last year.
The prelate said it is his dream that Indians would 'progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues'.
'I have a dream that India may have an abundance of not only of political parties and politicians but above all, of statesmen and women, who will place the well-being of the whole nation before their personal, party and petty interests', said the cardinal.
'The politicians should be ever alert and ready to combat the three evils of communalism, casteism and corruption, which pose a constant threat to our beloved Bharat Mata.
'I have a dream that politicians should be known for their noble intentions and selfless love for the poor and the marginalized. They should be outstanding in moral integrity.'
'I have a dream that the thirsting India's teeming millions should seek to be led 'from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality,' he said quoting from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.3.28. Cardinal Dias is fluent in 18 languages.
'I have a dream that the wonderful megapolis of Mumbai and the whole of the Indian sub-continent may progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues.'
'Cardinal Dias gave a fresh impetus for inter-religious dialogue to bring about not only religious harmony but a deep appreciation of the other faiths,' said Kala Acharya, director of K.J. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskrit Peetham.
'He is a staunch defender of human rights and freedom of religious freedom,' Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary general of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, the top body of 210 Indian bishops, told IANS.
'He is one of India's distinguished and prominent Catholic prelate, who challenged the political leadership to respect the lives of the unborn, the infirm and the unwanted,' said Father Anthony Charanghat, editor of 157-year-old The Examiner weekly.
'In the stormy seas of moral and ethical turmoil, Cardinal Dias was fearless to be in the forefront against issues like abortion, euthanasia, contraception, illicit relationships and unethical scientific human engineering,' he added.
Since 1961, when the young priest Dias, born in Mumbai, was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy for Vatican Diplomats, it has been a steady rise for him in the Vatican's inner circle during the last three decades in various capacities, including as a high profile ambassador to various European, African and Asian countries during the reign of the charismatic and globe trotting Polish Pope John Paul II.
Known for his orthodoxy and as a stanch advocate of the traditional doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Dias is very close to Pope Benedict XVI and the inner coterie of the Vatican regime.
In curial shift, pope names Indian cardinal as evangelization congregation head
Jun 24, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombay as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, one of the top posts within the Roman Curia.
(UCANews, 5/22/2006) ROME – Cardinal Dias, 70, replaces Italy's Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, 62, just named as the new archbishop of Naples. Both appointments were announced on May 20.
Cardinal Dias will head the Vatican congregation that oversees and directs the missionary and related activities of the Catholic Church, mainly in Asia and Africa. Cardinal Sepe had been the congregation's prefect for five years.
The congregation, previously known as "Propaganda Fidei" (Propagation of the Faith), traces its origins back to 1622. The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) defined its function as "regulating and coordinating all the missionary work" of the Catholic Church, as well as "missionary cooperation" in mission lands, but with due respect for the churches of the Oriental Rites.
A Vatican prelate who spoke with UCA News on condition of anonymity said Cardinal Dias is a dedicated pastor who "has a strong character and can put his foot down and insist." The source said such qualities would serve the Indian cardinal well as head of one of the Roman Curia's largest offices. It has a complex bureaucratic structure of more than 50 staff as well as the biggest budget.
The congregation has oversight and responsibility for almost 1,000 of the world's ecclesiastical administrations, more than one-third of all Catholic dioceses. It also identifies and screens candidates to be bishops in those dioceses, and proposes their names to the pope for his final decision.
The congregation has a "supervisory committee" with appropriate authority, also called "a congregation," that is like a board of directors or trustees. This committee currently has 61 members, including 41 cardinals.
Cardinal Dias, a native of Mumbai, previously called Bombay, is the first Asian to head this powerful Vatican office, which some describe as a "mini-Vatican" for the church in mission lands.
Church officials and commentators in Rome say his appointment reflects Pope Benedict's preference for an Asian to head this office. They also say it is particularly significant in that it is the clearest signal to date that the pope, like his predecessor John Paul II, is convinced the Catholic Church in the 21st century has great prospects for evangelization in Asia. This vast continent is home to more than 60 percent of all of the world's people, but only a tiny minority of them are Christians.
Cardinal Dias, renowned for his special facility to learn new languages, now is the only Asian in charge of an office in the Roman Curia. The last one to do so was Japan's Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, who resigned a few months ago.
Cardinal Dias was born on April 14, 1936, in Mumbai to Carlo Nazaro Dias and Maria Martins Dias. When Carlo Dias died in 1953, he was under-secretary of the home department of the government of Maharashtra, an Indian state.
He entered Bombay seminary when he was 14 and was ordained a priest at 22. Three years later, in 1961, Cardinal Valerian Gracias of Bombay sent the young priest to study in Rome for the Holy See's diplomatic service.
After completing studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (1961-64) and gaining a doctorate in Canon Law at Rome's Lateran University, he served one year in the Vatican's Secretary of State and helped prepare Pope Paul VI's historic visit to Bombay for the 38th International Eucharistic Congress. During that visit in 1964, the pope made him a monsignor at the age of 26.
From 1965 to 1973, the young monsignor served in Holy See diplomatic missions in northern European countries, some African states and Indonesia.
In 1973, he returned to work in the Vatican's Secretariat of State. For the next nine years, he led a section responsible for countries such as the Soviet Union and others in Eastern Europe, as well as Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam in Asia, and many African states – Burundi, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
After ordaining him as an archbishop in 1982, Pope John Paul II sent him as nuncio to Ghana, Togo and Benin (1982-87), then to South Korea (1987-91), and finally to Albania (1991-97). On Nov. 8, 1996, John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Bombay and made him a cardinal on Feb. 21, 2001.
The senior Indian cardinal greatly impressed many fellow cardinals when he delivered the keynote talk on the church's missionary work to the College of Cardinals during the silver jubilee celebrations at the Vatican for the 25th anniversary of election of Pope John Paul II.
After the pontiff died, some media and several cardinals spoke of Cardinal Dias as his possible successor, but those close to Cardinal Dias say he always dismissed such talk as pure speculation, not to be taken seriously.
Cardinal Dias took part in the April 2005 conclave that elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI. For many in Rome, it came as no surprise that the new pope would tap the Indian cardinal for such an important, high profile and highly influential post in the Roman Curia.
Reshuffle continues at Roman Curia
Jun 24, 2006
Pope Benedict has named Mumbai's Cardinal Ivan Dias as Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation, making him the first Asian to head the top Vatican office.
(cathnews.com, May 23 2006) Catholic World News reports that the widely anticipated appointment, announced on 20 May came in tandem with the appointment of the current prefect, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, as Archbishop of Naples.
Cardinal Michele Giordano of Naples had submitted his resignation last September, upon reaching the canonical retirement age of 75.
Cardinal Dias, the current Archbishop of Bombay, was in Rome when the announcement was made. He had led the procession down the Via della Conciliazione on 13 May, celebrating the anniversary of the first apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.
The Church in India is "proud of Cardinal Ivan Dias. We wish him all the best in his new assignment," Catholic Bishops Conference India spokesperson Fr Babu Joseph said while announcing the news at the weekend.
The Indian Cardinal had regularly been named as the prelate most likely to succeed Cardinal Sepe at the Congregation for Evangelisation. Well known both in Rome and in the Third World, the 70-year-old Cardinal Dias was occasionally listed among the papabile entering the conclave last April.
The appointment of a prominent Asian cardinal as head of the Congregation for Evangelisation - popularly known around Rome as Propaganda Fide - bears testimony to the commitment of Benedict XVI to make evangelisation in Asia a high priority.
The Congregation has responsibility for the Church's efforts in missionary territory, which includes most of the world's most populous continent.
Born into a pious Catholic family living just outside Bombay (now Mumbai), Cardinal Dias was ordained as a Salesian priest in December 1958.
After parish work in Bombay he was sent to Rome to study canon law, and later served in the Vatican diplomatic corps for 30 years before being named Archbishop of Bombay in 1996.
A polyglot who is fluent in 8 languages, he served in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Indonesia, and Madagascar; then worked in the Vatican bureau handling relations with the Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam; assigned abroad again, he was papal nuncio in Ghana, Togo, Benin, South Korea, and Albania.
Returning to his native Bombay as archbishop, Cardinal Dias proved both popular and energetic, despite a significant health problem. And his post in India has forced him to grapple with difficult issues of interreligious dialogue, defending the Christian minority against Hindu fundamentalism.
As prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation, Cardinal Dias will supervise 39 per cent of the world's Catholic dioceses. He is the second prefect named by Pope Benedict to head a Vatican congregation.
The first was Cardinal William Levada, appointed in May 2005 to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, filling the post that the Pope himself previously occupied.
Il Cardinal Dias risponde a quanti criticano la difesa del Papa della libertà religiosa in India
Jun 14, 2006
Nominato di recente Prefetto della Congregazione vaticana per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli, il Cardinale indiano Ivan Dias ha risposto alle critiche rivolte da un “piccolo gruppo politico-religioso” del suo Paese a Benedetto XVI per il suo rifiuto delle leggi contrarie alla libertà religiosa.
BOMBAY, mercoledì, 24 maggio 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Diffusa martedì dalla Conferenza dei Vescovi Cattolici dell’India (CBCI), la dichiarazione del porporato indiano ricorda le parole pronunciate dal Papa giovedì scorso, nel ricevere il nuovo ambasciatore della Nazione presso la Santa Sede per la consegna delle lettere credenziali.
“Gli allarmanti segni di intolleranza religiosa che hanno sconvolto alcune regioni della Nazione, incluso il riprovevole tentativo di votare in modo chiaramente discriminatorio restrizioni al diritto fondamentale della libertà religiosa, devono essere fermamente rifiutati non solo come incostituzionali, ma anche come contrari ai più alti ideali dei padri fondatori dell’India, che hanno creduto in una Nazione di coesistenza pacifica e tolleranza reciproca tra le varie religioni e i vari gruppi etnici”, ha detto il Santo Padre, come trascrive il Cardinal Dias.
Viste le critiche rivolte – a causa di queste parole – da “un piccolo gruppo politico-religioso (non rappresentativo) della maggioranza religiosa dell’India”, il Cardinal Dias ha sottolineato che “la libertà di coscienza e il diritto di professare, praticare e diffondere liberamente la religione di ciascuno sono stati consacrati nella Costituzione indiana”.
Questo, ha spiegato, non è altro che “un’affermazione dei diritti umani dei quali ogni uomo, donna e bambino è titolare”.
Il porporato ha ad ogni modo sottolineato che le conversioni “non devono mai essere indotte con la forza, la frode o mezzi di attrazione”; la Chiesa cattolica considera infatti tali conversioni “non valide”.
“Qualsiasi opposizione di legge o di fatto ad una conversione genuina, però, oltre a costituire una grave violazione dei diritti umani e dello spirito della Costituzione indiana, è soprattutto un’ingiustificata interferenza nella competenza unica di Dio nella questione”, ha avvertito.
Per tutto questo, il Cardinal Dias ritiene “imperativo che si chieda al suddetto gruppo” la prova di una sola conversione forzata alla Chiesa cattolica nel Paese. “Tutte le dichiarazioni fatte a questo riguardo in passato si sono rivelate completamente false”, ha ricordato.
La Chiesa cattolica in India: dedizione, non proselitismo
L’India ha 1.095 milioni di abitanti, per l’80,5% induisti e per il 13,4% musulmani.
I cristiani rappresentano il 2,3% della popolazione (l’1,8% del totale degli abitanti del Paese è cattolico), ma nonostante siano una “piccola minoranza” “si occupano del 20% di tutta l’educazione primaria del Paese, del 10% dei programmi comunitari di alfabetizzazione e sanità, del 25% dell’assistenza agli orfani e alle vedove e del 30% dell’assistenza agli handicappati, ai lebbrosi e ai malati di AIDS”, ha spiegato il porporato.
“La grande maggioranza di coloro che si avvalgono di queste istituzioni” appartiene a religioni diverse dal cristianesimo, ha aggiunto. Queste istituzioni sono “molto apprezzate da induisti, musulmani”, e membri di altri credo – o di nessuno –, “che ammirano i cristiani per il loro servizio disinteressato a coloro che soffrono, agli emarginati, agli analfabeti e agli oppressi”.
“Il suddetto gruppo farebbe bene ad esaminare quanto sta facendo a favore della crescita educativa, sanitaria e sociale del popolo indiano – propone il Cardinal Dias –, e non dovrebbe prendere a male il fatto che alcuni membri della maggioranza religiosa dell’India (e anche di altre comunità) si sentano attratti a seguire un gruppo il cui fondatore”, Gesù Cristo, “ha detto ai suoi seguaci di essere venuto non per essere servito ma per servire e ha comandato loro di amarsi gli uni gli altri come Egli li aveva amati”.
Questo gruppo “potrebbe anche realizzare uno studio su quanti milioni di persone che sono passati per le istituzioni educative, sanitarie o sociali cattoliche in India da tempo immemorabile – e questo include famosi giudici e avvocati, medici e infermiere, leader politici e religiosi, e anche alcuni membri di spicco del gruppo stesso! – si sono convertiti, o hanno ricevuto la richiesta di convertirsi al cristianesimo”, ha proseguito.
“Troverebbero allora il motivo per il quale, dopo duemila anni di presenza cristiana in India e di diligente attività dei suoi membri a favore della popolazione locale, il numero di cristiani continua ad essere estremamente basso nel Paese”.
Per il porporato, “se il suddetto gruppo non è capace di rispondere a questi punti in modo soddisfacente, farebbe bene a riconsiderare il suo atteggiamento di profondo pregiudizio nei confronti della comunità cristiana, e a vergognarsi degli attacchi, sia verbali che fisici, che alcuni dei suoi membri lanciano a personalità e a istituzioni cristiane in vari Stati del Paese”.
Le lamentele del partito nazionalista-fondamentalista BJP
Martedì il servizio informativo dell’episcopato indiano (ICNS) ha spiegato che Rajnath Singh, Presidente del BJP [“Bharatiya Janata Party”, partito nazionalista che sostiene una visione fondamentalista dell’induismo ed è il maggior partito d’opposizione nel Paese, ndr.], ha scritto al Papa dicendo che i suoi commenti sulle leggi anticonversione in India avevano “fatto del male” nel Paese.
Il messaggio seguiva varie proteste dei leader del BJP per le dichiarazioni in cui il Santo Padre esortava l’India a rifiutare i tentativi di lanciare disposizioni in modo “chiaramente discriminatorio”.
Un gruppo induista ha bruciato sabato immagini del Papa in vari luoghi dello Stato del Madhya Pradesh, contestando l’“interferenza” papale nelle questioni del Paese.
Come sottolinea l’ICNS, le sue parole sono state considerate un riferimento alle leggi anticonversione, che esistono in cinque Stati indiani, e ai tentativi di lanciare queste norme in altri Stati.
As Christ's Vicar On Earth, Pope Is Fully Competent To Speak On Religious Freedom
Jun 14, 2006
Responding to a spate of responses to Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks on freedom of religion in India, the newly appointed head of Vatican’s Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias asserts - as Christ's Vicar on earth, Pope is fully competent to speak on the issue.
Mumbai, June 14, 2006 (CBCI News) The following is the statement issued by Cardinal Ivan Dias:
THE HOLY SEE AND VATICAN
In some of the reactions to Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks on freedom of religion in India, he was criticised for intruding into the internal affairs of a sovereign nation and for acting ultra vires as the head of the Vatican City-State. Besides the considerations which have been previously made in The Examiner (May 27, 2006) apropos the subject touched upon by the Holy Father, it would seem wise to clarify - from a Catholic perspective - certain notions about the role he plays in the world at large as Christ's Vicar on earth.
Biblical Background
We must go back to the Sea of Galilee some two thousand years ago when Jesus, who had just finished addressing a multitude of people from the barque of Peter, bade him to launch out into the deep and to lower the nets for a catch. After a moment of curious surprise - at a request coming from a carpenter-preacher to a seasoned fisherman who had toiled all night and caught nothing (was it, perhaps, an unwarranted interference with his competence!) - Peter cast down the nets and, all confused by the big haul he made, fell at Jesus' feet and begged Him to go away from a sinful man. But Jesus reassured him saying: "Do not be afraid; henceforth, you will be a fisher of men" (cf Lk 5:1-10). This change, from fisherman to a fisher of men, is indeed significant. Later on, Jesus would explain the meaning of this new office with another metaphor: "You are Peter, the rock, and on this Rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you will bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you will loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 16:13-20). After His resurrection, Jesus confirmed Peter in this office saying: "Feed my lambs.. Feed my sheep" (Jn 21:15-19), notwithstanding the fact that Peter, in a moment of weakness after Jesus' arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, had thrice denied that he ever knew Him. Being God-made-man, Jesus' flock is the whole human race, for whose sake He died on the Cross at Calvary.
The Holy See
It is gratifying to note that, in a world where human, moral and ethical values are being constantly tossed high and low on the stormy seas of life, Jesus wished that Peter be, like a lighthouse on a rock, His authoritative spokesman - His Vicar on earth - enlightening the course of humanity. And so it has been all down the centuries till today through Peter's successors, the Popes. The moral and spiritual authority vested in the Pope is normally referred to as The Holy See: the term "see" (which means seat) symbolically signifies the chair from which teaching is officially imparted, laws are promulgated and judgements pronounced, something akin to the stools of the tribal chiefs in Africa, the thrones of the kings in Europe and the peets from where Indian gurus teach their disciples with authority.
Strictly speaking, the Holy See or the Apostolic See is the ministry of the Pope who has a double sovereignty: as Pastor of the universal Church and as Head of the Vatican City-State. In a broad sense, the Holy See includes the departments (dicasteries) of the Roman Curia which collaborate with the Pope in the governance of the Church (can. 361 in the Code of Canon Law). The Holy See is thus the central governing body of the Catholic Church, whose head is the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and it is precisely in the exercise of this function that it enjoys international recognition. The Holy See is also the supreme authority of the Vatican City-State, as will be explained further below. The Pope has a special place in the comity of nations, and he is universally acknowledged as an authoritative point of reference when he speaks on dogmatic, spiritual, moral and ethical issues: these statements are not always infallible, except when he speaks ex cathedra. He commands the respect of all the nations, even of those who disagree with his views. In this he represents the Holy See, and not the Vatican City-State. His pronouncements are mainly on human rights, life and death issues, morality in and out of marriage, questions of justice, truth and peace.
The Holy See, not the Vatican City, maintains diplomatic relations with 174 nations and participates in various international organizations. Foreign embassies are accredited to the Holy See, not to the Vatican City, and it is the Holy See that establishes treaties and concordats with other sovereign entities and, when necessary, even on behalf of the Vatican City. Due to the very limited territory of the Vatican, embassies to the Holy See are located outside that City-State in the Italian part of Rome. Italy too has its own Embassy to the Holy See. While the Vatican is a subject of international law and is a member of some international organisations, like the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Holy See participates in many entities, both governmental and non-governmental, as a member, observer or permanent representative, e.g. United Nations Organization (UNO), The European Council, United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE), etc.
As the Holy See does not have any political or commercial ambitions to further, it is much appreciated by everyone for its supra-national approach and its substantial contribution to the international community's quest for world peace and security, especially since there are matters and values which transcend national boundaries and which concern the world body of nations as a whole. Among these are human rights issues, wars and consequent refugee problems, terrorism, child labour, drug trafficking, air-flight safety, maritime fishing, etc. Common policies on these matters are often drawn up in declarations and statements having a universal character: e.g. the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1948) wherein it is stated: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance" (Art.18). It is for this reason that the Holy See is held in high esteem all over the world. It is noteworthy that Article 16 of the international Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (18 April 1961), while stipulating that the Heads of Diplomatic Missions (Ambassadors) in a given State should be given precedence according to the order of their presentation of credentials to the Head of that State, has a clause which makes a unique exception for the Pope's Ambassador (Apostolic Nuncio), stating that "this article is without prejudice to any practice accepted by the receiving State regarding the precedence of the representative of the Holy See".
The Vatican City-State
The place where the Pope resides at present is a very small territory in Rome, called the Vatican. Rome has always been the normal residence of the Popes, albeit in various locations, because the tomb of Peter, the first Pope, lies there on Vatican Hill. In times past, when the Italian peninsula was made up of many feudal states, some of them paid allegiance to the Pope as their temporal sovereign. But, when the Papal States were suppressed after the invasion of Rome by the troops of the King of Piedmont in 1870, the Pope was "confined" to the Vatican Palace. It was then that some uncertainty arose among jurists as to whether the Holy See, without territorial sovereignty, could continue to act as an independent personality in international affairs. The State of the Vatican City was therefore created with the signing of the Lateran Pact between the Holy See and the Italian Authorities on February 11, 1929 to "ensure the absolute and visible independence of the Holy See" and "to guarantee to it an indisputable sovereignty in international affairs" (quotes from the treaty). Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Holy See's former Secretary for Relations with States, said that the Vatican City is a "miniscule support-state that guarantees the spiritual freedom of the Pope with the minimum territory".
The Pope is the head of the tiny Vatican City-State, which covers an area of 44 hectares (108.7 acres) and hosts some world-renowned sites: among them, St. Peter's Basilica, The Apostolic Palace, Vatican Museums with the Library and Secret Archives, Paul VI Audience Hall, The Governor's Palace. Providing a territorial identity for the Holy See, the Vatican City-State is a recognized national territory under international law, with its own flag, anthem, postal stamps, coins, security (famous Swiss Guards), health services, bank, tribunal, railway station and administrative offices.
The Vatican City is, therefore, a purely technical entity of a juridical nature, to be understood in the context of the permanent international recognition which the Holy See has always enjoyed, both before the creation of the Pontifical States and even after they ceased in 1870. At that time, the Vatican City-State did not exist. This permanent international recognition of the Holy See is proof enough that States and Governments looked at the Holy See, not primarily as a territorial entity, but as an international juridical reality, whose foundation was the spiritual sovereignty of the Church exercised through the ministry of the Pope. The basis of this sovereignty is to be found in valid juridical and social arguments concerning an organism that has existed through many centuries as a real juridical sovereignty analogous, but not identical to, that of a State: for it is an association of people with its own special organization (i.e. based on spiritual values and with a hierarchical structure), which follows an independent goal and can freely adopt the ways and means it considers necessary for its mission and unity. In short, the Church is an entity sui generis, and is recognized as such by international agreements.
The Catholic Perspective
To summarise the Catholic perspective exposed above: The Holy See has existed ever since Peter was mandated by Christ to take care of His flock, which is the whole human race. The Vatican City-State exists only since 1929. It would, therefore, be wrong to attribute to the Pope as head of the Vatican City-State the statements he makes in virtue of his authority as Christ's Vicar on earth (Holy See): just as if, in the case of Peter cited above, one would confuse the fisherman and the fisher of men in him. People everywhere are normally quite aware that the Pope's role as head of the Church (Holy See) is quite distinct from that of first citizen of the Vatican: for instance, when they listen to the Pope's speeches or when they react to various papal events, such as the sight of the hundreds of thousands of persons who come to Rome from the five continents wishing to attend a papal audience; the anxiety of the millions around the globe who followed the radio and television bulletins for over a week as Pope John Paul II's life was slowly ebbing away and the sadness which prevailed all over the world when he died and at his funeral service; the enthusiasm with which countless of persons witnessed the election and inaugural ceremonies of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Re-reading Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on religious freedom in India - which were made within the context of a speech filled with appreciation of and praises for the Indian nation - one cannot but sense the Holy Father's deep concern at the negative attitude taken by certain politico-religious groups vis-à-vis the innate fundamental rights of the Indian people, which are also enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are guaranteed in the Indian Constitution and reflect the spirit of India's founding fathers. This is fully within the competence of the Pope (Holy See). His observations, however, are all the more relevant when one considers the deep yearning of the Indian soul as expressed in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "from untruth lead me to the truth, from darkness lead me to the light, and from death lead me to immortality" (1.3.28). While sincerely appreciating the "seeds of the truth" which are found in all religious traditions and which await their full blossoming, Christians believe that only Jesus Christ can fully satisfy the inner longing of the human heart to pass "from untruth to truth" because He is the Truth; "from darkness to the light" because He is the Way and the Light of the World, and "from death to immortality" because He is Life in abundance. In fact, in reply to a question posed by the Apostle Thomas at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6). And it was precisely Thomas who, in God's providence, would later bring this Good News of Jesus Christ to the Indian sub-continent.
+ Cardinal Ivan Dias
Mumbai
La nomination du card. Dias preuve de la considération du pape pour l’Asie
Jun 14, 2006
En Asie, la nomination du cardinal Dias à la tête d’un important dicastère du Saint-Siège a été accueillie comme la manifestation de la considération du pape pour le continent asiatique, souligne « Eglises d’Asie », l’agence des missions étrangères de Paris (eglasie.mepasie.org, N. 442).
ROME, Lundi 12 juin 2006 (ZENIT.org) – La nomination du cardinal Ivan Dias, archevêque de Bombay, comme préfet de la Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples, le 20 mai dernier, a été accueillie comme la manifestation de la considération du pape pour l’Asie, selon des évêques catholiques asiatiques. « Je pense que Mgr Dias aidera les Eglises locales d’Asie à se développer, et je serai très heureux de m’entretenir prochainement avec lui », a confié le cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun, évêque de Hongkong, nommé membre de la Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples, le 6 mai dernier. Le cardinal Telesphore Toppo, président de la Conférence épiscopale indienne, a souligné que le cardinal Dias pourra désormais informer le pape des « besoins spécifiques » des Eglises en Asie. « Nous sommes fiers pour l’Inde et pour l’Asie, mais le plus important reste sa très grande expérience de diplomate, notamment en Afrique et en Asie, qui nous sera d’une aide précieuse pour continuer à grandir », a ajouté l’archevêque de Ranchi.
La Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples, créée pour propager la foi catholique dans les pays de mission (1), est chargée de « diriger et coordonner dans le monde entier l’évangélisation des peuples et la coopération missionnaire » (2), les pays de mission représentant aujourd’hui près de 40 % de l’espace de l’Eglise catholique dans le monde. Elle érige particulièrement les territoires en diocèses, propose au pape les noms des futurs évêques, et examine toutes les questions envoyées par les conférences épiscopales. De par ses compétences, la Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples tient une place particulière parmi les dicastères, qui font de son préfet, en l’occurrence le cardinal Ivan Dias, un des personnages les plus importants de la curie romaine, après le secrétaire d’Etat et le préfet de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi.
Le cardinal Ivan Dias est né à Mumbai (Bombay), en 1936. A l’âge de 14 ans, il est entré au séminaire de Bombay. Son père, décédé en 1953, était sous-secrétaire du ministère de l’Intérieur du Maharashtra. Mgr Dias fut ordonné prêtre à l’âge de 22 ans et, trois ans plus tard, il partit étudier à Rome. Il entra ensuite dans les services de la secrétairerie d’Etat, pour préparer le voyage de Paul VI à Bombay, en 1964. De 1965 à 1973, il fut secrétaire de nonciature en Scandinavie, en Asie et dans l’océan Indien. De retour à Rome, il s’occupa pendant neuf ans des relations avec les pays du bloc communiste. A partir de 1982, nommé archevêque, il prit ses fonctions de nonce apostolique au Ghana, au Togo, au Bénin (1982-1987), en Corée du Sud (1987-1991), et finalement en Albanie (1991-1997), pays fortement touché par les conséquences du marxisme. Le 8 novembre 1996, le pape Jean-Paul II le nommait archevêque de Bombay, et le 21 février 2001, il était créé cardinal.
Selon des sources romaines, la nomination par Benoît XVI d’un préfet asiatique à la tête de la Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples, manifeste clairement l’espoir que représente l’Asie pour l’évangélisation au XXIe siècle, intérêt que son défunt prédécesseur partageait également. En effet, 60 % de la population mondiale vit actuellement sur le continent asiatique, alors qu’un peu moins de 3 % d’entre eux sont catholiques.
(1) C’est depuis Vatican II que la congrégation Pro propaganda fide (‘pour la propagation de la foi’), créée en 1568, s’appelle congrégation pour l’Evangélisation des peuples.
(2) Décret « Ad Gentes » du Concile Vatican II
Der nächste Schritt in der Kurienreform
May 29, 2006
Papst Benedikt XVI. hat heute einen als konservativ geltenden indischen Kardinal mit dem mächtigen Amt des Präfekten der Missionskongregation betraut. Der Vorgänger im Amt wird Diözesanbischof.
(kreuz.net, 20. Mai 2006) Vatikan - Der Heilige Vater ernannte heute Vormittag den Präfekten der Missionskongregation, Crescenzio Kardinal Sepe, zum neuen Erzbischof von Neapel.
Der Abstieg des Kurienkardinals von Rom nach Neapel – 200 Kilometer südlich der Ewigen Hauptstadt – ist von der italienischen Presse schon länger vorweggenommen worden.
Im Vatikan wurde gemunkelt, daß Kardinal Sepe dem Papst wegen seines zum Teil etwas oberflächlichen Aktivismus nicht nur genehm war.
In Neapel erwarten Kardinal Sepe zwei Aufgaben: die Glaubensverkündigung in einer stark heruntergekommenen Stadt und die Verwaltung des großen Immobilienbesitzes der Diözese.
Der Kardinal dürfte mit seinem Organisationstalent durchaus in der Lage sein, diese Aufgaben zu lösen.
Die Nachfolge als Präfekt der Missionskongregation tritt der Erzbischof von Bombay, Ivan Kardinal Dias (70), an.
Wegen seiner Machtfülle über viele Diözesen der Dritten Welt wird der Präfekt der Missionskongregation in Rom auch „roter Papst“ genannt.
Die Kongregation hieß früher ‘Congregatio de Propaganda Fide’. Sie wurde von Papst Gregor XV. († 1623) im Jahr 1622 ins Leben gerufen, um dem sich immer stärker ausbreitenden Protestantismus entgegenzuwirken und die weltweite Missionierung zu fördern.
Ivan Kardinal Dias (70) ist kein Jüngling mehr. Er wurde am 14. April 1936 in Bombay geboren. Am 8. Dezember 1958 empfing er die Priesterweihe.
Anschließend absolvierte er ein Kirchenrechtsstudium in Rom, wo er mit dem Doktorat auf der Lateranuniversität abschloß.
Der neue Präfekt der Missionskongregation wurde am 19. Juni 1982 im Petersdom zum Bischof geweiht.
Kardinal Dias stand lange Jahre im diplomatischen Dienst des Heiligen Stuhls. Er kennt darum die römischen Verhältnisse sehr gut. Unter anderem wirkte er während der schwierigen Jahre von 1991 bis 1997 als Nuntius in Albanien.
Der Kirchenfürst spricht mehr als zwölf Sprachen.
Seit 1996 ist er Erzbischof von Bombay. Im Jahr 2001 wurde er von Papst Johannes Paul II. zum Kardinal kreiert.
Cardenal Dias es el nuevo Prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos
May 29, 2006
El Papa Benedicto XVI nombró hoy Prefecto de la Congregación para la Evangelización de los Pueblos al Arzobispo de Bombay (India), Cardenal Ivan Dias, en reemplazo del Cardenal Crescenzio Sepe, quien ha sido nominado Arzobispo de Nápoles.
VATICANO, 20 May. 06 (ACI).- El Cardenal Dias nació en Mumbai el 14 de abril de 1936. Fue ordenado sacerdote en Bombay el 8 de diciembre de 1958.
Estudió en la Pontificia Academia Eclesiástica a Roma (1961-1964). Laureado en Derecho Canónico en 1964 por la Pontificia Universidad Lateranense en Roma.
En 1964 trabajó en la Secretaría de Estado para preparar la visita del Papa Pablo VI a Bombay con ocasión de Congreso Eucarístico Internacional. Entre 1965 y 1973 ha sido Secretario en la Nunciatura Apostólica en Dinamarca, Suecia, Noruega, Islandia, Finlandia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Isla de la Reunión, Isla Comore y Mauricio.
De 1973 a 1982, en la Secretaría de Estado, dirigió la sección para la Unión Soviética, los Estados Bálticos, Bielorrusia, Ucrania, Polonia, Bulgaria, China, Vietnam, Laos, Camboya, Sudáfrica, Namibia, Lesotho, Suiza, Zimbabwe, Etiopía, Ruanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya y Tanzania.
Elegido Arzobispo titular de Rusubisir y nombrado pro-nuncio en Ghana, Togo y Benin, el 8 de mayo de 1982. Consagrado el 19 de junio de 1982 en la basílica vaticana de San Pedro. Nuncio en Corea, de 1987 a 1991 y en Albania, de 1991 a 1997. Transferido a la sede metropolitana de Bombay el 8 de noviembre de 1997. Ha sido Presidente Delegado de la 10º Asamblea general ordinaria del Sínodo de los Obispos, octubre de 2001.
Creado cardenal por Juan Pablo II en el Consistorio de 2001.
Pope reshuffles Curia, gives senior post to India's Cardinal Dias
May 29, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed the archbishop of Mumbai, Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, according to the Vatican.
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur, May 20, 2006) Rome - Dias, 70, replaces Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who was named archbishop of Naples.
Observers in Rome said the appointment of the Indian archbishop, who insiders had tipped as the possible successor to John Paul II last year, was an important sign for Catholics in the Third World, and especially in Asia.
The congregation is a central authority within the church and can be traced back to the 'Congregatio de Proganda Fide (Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith)' founded by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 to combat the church's loss of influence due to the spread of Protestantism and to promote missions worldwide.
The congregation is also responsible for the running and coordination of the four pontifical mission societies: the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Pontifical Society of St Peter the Apostle, the Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood and the Pontifical Missionary Union.
The Curia reshuffle is expected to continue for some time. It is still unclear who will replace Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, who turns 80 this year.
'Foreign Minister' Giovanni Lajolo is expected to take on other duties in the future, but it was also unclear who would replace him.
Cardinal Dias explains Pope's remarks
May 29, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's comments last week on conversion and religious freedom in India have turned out to be controversial.
(rediff.com, May 24, 2006) Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said on Tuesday that the Indian government disapproves the comments the Pope made on conversions and religious intolerance in the country.
The Indian response came after the Vatican noted the 'disturbing signs of religious intolerance' that have 'troubled some regions' of India.
Such incidents included the 'reprehensible attempt to legislate clearly discriminatory restrictions on the fundamental right of religious freedom,' the Pope said.
These moves should be 'firmly rejected as not only unconstitutional, but also as contrary to the highest ideals of India's founding fathers, who believed in a nation of peaceful coexistence and mutual tolerance between different religions and ethnic groups,' the Pope said.
Pope Benedict made the comments in a written speech delivered on May 18 at a ceremony in which he received the presentation of credentials from Amitava Tripathi, India's new ambassador to the Vatican.
On Tuesday, the papal remarks came up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha after Bharatiya Janata Party members took up the issue in the House, demanding an apology from the Pope.
Minister Sharma on Tuesday also summoned Archbishop Pedro López Quintana, the Vatican's charge d'affaires in New Delhi, to his office and conveyed to him in 'no uncertain terms that the Government of India disapproved (the Pope's) statement' and was displeased by it.
But Church leaders in India say the Pope's statement on religious freedom should be seen and interpreted in the right direction.
Officially, Cardinal Ivan Dias has responded to the ongoing criticism against the papal comments.
Last week, the Mumbai-based Cardinal Dias was appointed as head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, making him the first Asian to head the top Vatican office.
In the following comments that his office emailed to rediff.com, the Mumbai-born and raised Cardinal Dias, who is currently in the Vatican, explains the Pope's comments:
In the wake of some criticism to this statement by a tiny politico-religious fraction (unrepresentative) of the religious majority in India, the following points are worth noting:
Conversion from one religious belief to another is a strictly personal matter between God and the individual concerned. The freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate one's religion have been enshrined in the Constitution of India. This is but an affirmation of the human rights to which every man, woman and child is entitled.
Conversions, however, should never be induced by force, fraud or allurement: the Catholic Church considers all such conversions as invalid. But, any opposition by law or de facto to a genuine conversion, besides being a grave violation of the code of human rights and of the spirit of the Indian Constitution, is, above all, an unwarranted interference in God's unique competence in the matter.
It is, therefore, imperative that the said group be asked to produce factual evidence proving a single forced conversion to the Catholic Church in India as a sign of its bonafide intentions. All allegations made in this regard in the past have proved to be utterly false, like the one made last year by a government education officer against a Catholic school in Nashik, when he was refused a favour he was demanding very arrogantly. When questioned by his superiors at Mantralaya (the state government headquarters in Mumbai) and asked to produce proof of his complaint, he was quick to retract his accusation and he publicly apologised for his haughty behaviour.
The Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of these 1.8% belong to the Catholic Church. Despite being such a tiny minority, the Christians cater to 20% of all the primary education in the country, 10% of the literacy and community health care programmes, 25% of the care of the orphans and widows, and 30% of the care of the handicapped, lepers and AIDS patients.
The vast majority of those who avail themselves of these institutions belong to faiths other than Christian. These institutions are much appreciated by Hindus, Muslims and persons of other faiths or of no faith at all, who admire the Christians for their selfless service of the suffering, the marginalised, the illiterate and the downtrodden.
The aforementioned group would do well to examine how much it is doing in favour of the educational, health and social uplift of the Indian people, and should not take it amiss that some members of the religious majority in India (and of other communities as well) feel attracted to follow a religion whose founder, Our Lord Jesus Christ, told His followers that He had come, not to be served, but to serve and who commanded them to love one another as He had loved them.
The group can also ask itself why so many persons of other faiths, including even government officials, insist on their children being educated in so-called 'convent schools' or on admitting their sick and aged relatives in Catholic hospitals or homes.
The same group could also make a survey as to how many of the millions of persons who have passed through the Catholic educational, health or social institutions in India from time immemorial -- and these include, interalia, renowned judges and advocates, medical practitioners and nurses, political and religious leaders, and even some prominent members of the group itself! -- have been converted or were asked to convert to Christianity. They would thus find the reason why, after two thousand years of Christian presence in India and the zealous activity of its members in favour of the local population, the number of Christians remains exceedingly small in the country.
If the said group is unable to answer these points satisfactorily, it would do well to re-consider its profoundly biased attitude towards the Christian community, and be ashamed of the attacks, both verbal and physical, which some of its members make on Christian personalities and institutions in several states in the country. Such a behaviour is indeed unbecoming of civilised persons and seriously endangers the secular and democratic fabric of our beloved Motherland, to which Catholics in India are proud to belong as law-abiding citizens.
Card. Dias replica ai fondamentalisti: “La conversione di un uomo riguarda lui e Dio”
May 29, 2006
Il porporato, in un documento ufficiale, approfitta della polemica che il Bjp ha scatenato, criticando il Papa, per rispondere in quattro punti alle accuse mosse da anni contro la Chiesa cattolica, “piccola minoranza che opera per il bene dell’India, di cui è orgogliosa di fare parte”.
Mumbai (AsiaNews, 24 Maggio 2006) – La conversione di un individuo è una questione “che riguarda Dio e l’individuo stesso”, oltre ad essere “un diritto incastonato nella Costituzione indiana, che appartiene ad ogni uomo, donna o bambino del nostro Paese”. E’ la risposta dell’arcivescovo di Mumbai e nuovo prefetto del Dicastero vaticano per l’evangelizzazione dei popoli, il cardinale Ivan Dias, alle critiche mosse da gruppi politici nazionalisti al discorso di Benedetto XVI che il 18 maggio scorso ha sottolineato “i preoccupanti segni di intolleranza religiosa che si registrano in alcuni Stati indiani”.
Dopo queste parole, pronunciate in occasione della presentazione delle lettere credenziali del nuovo ambasciatore indiano presso la Santa Sede, Rajnath Singh, presidente del Bharatiya Janata Party [Bjp, maggior partito politico indiano, di impronta nazional–fondamentalista ndr], aveva risposto al Papa definendo i suoi commenti “ingiustificati” e sottolineando come “proprio le conversioni causano i problemi religiosi nel Paese, non le leggi che le proibiscono”.
Nel Madhya Pradesh, Stato dominato dal Bjp, diversi gruppi di integralisti hanno bruciato sabato 20 maggio delle fotografie di Benedetto XVI per protestare contro la sua “interferenza negli affari interni dell’India”. “Le proteste del Bjp – dice ad AsiaNews padre Anand Muttungal, portavoce della Conferenza episcopale indiana (Cbci) - sono solo un espediente politico che consente agli integralisti di tenere occupati i suoi volontari”.
Più articolata l’analisi del porporato, che in un documento rilasciato dal sito ufficiale della Cbci analizza in quattro punti la presenza cattolica in India e sottolinea come le accuse “fisiche e verbali” lanciate da questi gruppi siano “totalmente ingiustificate e motivo di vergogna”.
Riportiamo di seguito il testo completo dell’analisi del cardinal Dias.
Durante la recente udienza concessa al nuovo ambasciatore indiano presso la Santa Sede, Benedetto XVI ha fatto la seguente osservazione sulla libertà religiosa in India: “I preoccupanti segni di intolleranza religiosa che si registrano in alcuni Stati indiani, fra cui il tentativo riprovevole di legiferare in favore di limitazioni chiaramente discriminatorie sul diritto fondamentale alla libertà religiosa, devono essere rigettati fermamente, non solo perché incostituzionali, ma anche perchè contrari ai più alti ideali dei padri fondatori dell'India, che hanno creduto in una nazione caratterizzata dalla coesistenza pacifica e dalla tolleranza reciproca fra le religioni differenti ed i gruppi etnici”.
Sull’onda di alcune critiche a questo discorso, pronunciate da una piccola frazione politico-religiosa che non rappresenta la maggioranza religiosa del Paese, devono essere sottolineati i seguenti punti.
1) La conversione da un credo religioso ad un altro è una questione strettamente personale fra Dio e l’individuo in questione. La libertà di coscienza ed il diritto di professare, praticare e propagare liberamente la propria fede sono custoditi dalla Costituzione indiana. Questa libertà è inoltre un’affermazione dei diritti umani, che appartiene ad ogni uomo, donna o bambino. Le conversioni, tuttavia, non dovrebbero mai essere indotte con la forza, la frode o le lusinghe: la Chiesa cattolica considera le conversioni di questo tipo invalide. Ma ogni opposizione ad una conversione genuina, che avvenga per legge o de facto, oltre ad essere una grave violazione dei diritti umani e dello spirito della Costituzione indiana è, soprattutto, un’interferenza ingiustificata nella competenza unica che Dio ha riguardo questa materia. E’ quindi imperativo che venga chiesto al gruppo sopra citato, se vuole dare un segno di aver espresso tali intenzioni in buona fede, una qualunque evidenza fattuale che provi una singola conversione effettuata con la forza dalla Chiesa cattolica. Tutte le accuse mosse in passato su questa questione si sono dimostrate completamente false, come lo scorso anno, quando un ufficiale governativo dell’Istruzione le ha mosse contro una scuola cattolica di Nashik, perché gli era stato rifiutato un favore che aveva chiesto con molta arroganza. Quando è stato interrogato dai suoi superiori a Matralaya, che gli hanno chiesto delle prove a sostegno della sua accusa, è stato molto rapido nel ritirare la sua accusa e domandare scusa in pubblico per il suo comportamento arrogante.
2) I cristiani in India rappresentano solo il 2,3 % della popolazione totale: di questi, l’1,8 % fa parte della Chiesa cattolica. Nonostante siano una piccola minoranza, i cristiani curano il 20 % dell’educazione primaria di tutto il Paese, il 10 % dei programmi di alfabetizzazione e di sanità pubblica, il 25 % della cura degli orfani e delle vedove ed il 30 % della cura di disabili, lebbrosi e malati di Aids. La stragrande maggioranza di coloro che usufruiscono di queste istituzioni sono fedeli di altre religioni. Queste istituzioni sono molto apprezzate da indù, musulmani e appartenenti ad altri credi, oltre che dagli atei, che ammirano i cristiani per il loro essere al servizio dei sofferenti, degli emarginati, degli analfabeti e degli oppressi. Il gruppo di cui abbiamo parlato in apertura farebbe bene ad esaminare quanto viene fatto in favore del miglioramento educazionale, sanitario e sociale della popolazione indiana, e non dovrebbero male interpretare il fatto che alcuni membri della maggioranza religiosa del Paese – così come i membri di altre religioni – si sentano attratti da una religione il cui fondatore, nostro Signore Gesù Cristo, ha detto ai suoi fedeli di essere venuto non per essere servito, ma per servire, e che gli ha comandato di amarsi l’un l’altro così come Egli ha amato loro. Questo gruppo dovrebbe inoltre chiedere a se stesso perché così tante persone di altre fedi, fra cui rappresentanti del governo, insistono affinché i loro figli vengano educati nelle così dette “scuole-convento” o per ricoverare i loro malati ed i loro anziani in case o ospedali cattolici.
3) Lo stesso gruppo potrebbe inoltre fare un sondaggio per scoprire quanti, fra i milioni di persone che sono passati attraverso le istituzioni educative, sociali e sanitarie cattoliche da tempo immemore – e fra questi vanno inclusi noti giudici ed avvocati, medici ed infermiere, leader religiosi e politici oltre che alcuni membri molto in vista del gruppo stesso – si sono convertiti o a quanti è stato chiesto di convertirsi al cristianesimo. In questo modo potrebbero capire perché, dopo due millenni di presenza cristiana in India e la zelante attività dei suoi membri, essi rimangano una piccola minoranza nel Paese.
4) Se il gruppo non è in grado di rispondere in maniera soddisfacente a queste domande, farebbe bene a riconsiderare il suo atteggiamento profondamente di parte nei confronti della comunità cristiana e vergognarsi degli attacchi, verbali e fisici, che alcuni dei suoi membri lanciano nei confronti di personalità ed istituzioni cristiane in diversi Stati dell’India. Un tale comportamento non è degno di persone serie e civilizzate e mette in serio pericolo l’animo laico e democratico della nostra amata madre patria, della quale i cattolici sono orgogliosi di fare parte, come cittadini che rispettano la legge.
El cardenal Dias responde a los que critican la defensa del Papa de la libertad religiosa en La India
May 29, 2006
Recién nombrado prefecto de la Congregación vaticana para la Evangelización de los Pueblos, el cardenal indio Ivan Dias ha respondido a las críticas de una «pequeña fracción político-religiosa» de su país lanzadas a Benedicto XVI por su rechazo a las leyes contrarias a la libertad religiosa.
BOMBAY, miércoles, 24 mayo 2006 (ZENIT.org).- Difundida el martes por la Conferencia de los Obispos Católicos de la India (CBCI), la declaración del purpurado indio recuerda las palabras que pronunció el Papa el pasado jueves cuando recibió al nuevo embajador de la nación ante la Santa Sede.
«Las inquietantes señales de intolerancia religiosa que han preocupado a algunas regiones de la nación, incluyendo el reprensible intento de legislar restricciones claramente discriminatorias acerca del derecho fundamental a la libertad religiosa, deben ser firmemente rechazadas no sólo como inconstitucionales, sino también como contrarias a los ideales más elevados de los padres fundadores de La India, quienes creyeron en una nación de coexistencia pacífica y tolerancia mutua entre diferentes religiones y grupos étnicos», dijo el Santo Padre, según transcribe el cardenal Dias.
Vistas algunas críticas lanzadas --a raíz de estas palabras-- por «una pequeña fracción político-religiosa (no representativa) de la mayoría religiosa de La India», el cardenal Dias recalca que «la libertad de conciencia y el derecho a profesar, practicar y propagar libremente la religión de cada uno han sido consagrados en la Constitución india».
Y ello no es sino «una afirmación de los derechos humanos de los que todo hombre, mujer y niño es titular».
En cualquier caso, el purpurado hace hincapié que las conversiones «nunca deben ser inducidas por la fuerza, fraude o medios de atracción»; de hecho, la Iglesia católica considera tales conversiones «inválidas».
«Pero cualquier oposición de ley o de hecho a una conversión genuina, además de constituir una grave violación a los derechos humanos y al espíritu de la Constitución India, es, sobre todo, una injustificada interferencia en la competencia única de Dios en la cuestión», advierte.
Por todo ello, el cardenal Dias considera «imperativo que se pida al citado grupo» la prueba de una sola conversión forzada a la Iglesia católica en el país. «Todos los alegatos hechos al respecto en el pasado se han probado completamente falsos», recuerda.
Iglesia católica en La India: entrega, no proselitismo
1.095 millones de habitantes tiene La India, hindúes en un 80,5% y musulmanes en un 13,4%.
Los cristianos «sólo» representan el 2,3% de la población (1,8% del total de habitantes del país es católico), pero a pesar de ser una «diminuta minoría» «atienden el 20% de toda la educación primaria del país, el 10% de los programas comunitarios de alfabetización y sanidad, el 25% de la atención de los huérfanos y viudas, y el 30% del cuidado de los discapacitados, leprosos y pacientes con Sida», enumera el purpurado.
«La gran mayoría de quienes se valen de estas instituciones» pertenecen a religiones distinta del Cristianismo --añade--. Tales instituciones son «muy apreciadas por hindúes, musulmanes» y miembros de otros credos --o de ninguno--, «quienes admiran a los cristianos por su servicio desinteresado por los que sufren, los marginados, los analfabetos y los oprimidos».
Así que «el susodicho grupo haría bien en examinar cuánto está haciendo a favor de la elevación educativa, sanitaria y social del pueblo indio --propone el cardenal Dias--, y no debería tomarse a mal que algunos miembros de la mayoría religiosa en La India (y de otras comunidades además) se sientan atraídos a seguir una religión cuyo fundador», Jesucristo, «dijo a sus seguidores que había venido no a ser servido, sino a servir, y les mandó que se amaran unos a otros como Él les había amado».
Ese «grupo también podría hacer un estudio sobre cuántos millones de personas que han pasado por las instituciones educativas, sanitarias o sociales católicas en La India desde tiempo inmemorial --¡y ello incluye a renombrados jueces y abogados, médicos y enfermeras, líderes políticos y religiosos, e incluso algunos destacados miembros del propio grupo!-- se han convertido, o se les pidió que se convirtieran, al Cristianismo», prosigue.
«Encontrarían entonces la razón por la que, después de dos mil años de presencia cristiana en La India y de diligente actividad de sus miembros a favor de la población local, el número de cristianos sigue siendo extremadamente pequeño en el país», puntualiza.
«Si el citado grupo no es capaz de responder a estos puntos satisfactoriamente, haría bien en reconsiderar su actitud de profundo prejuicio hacia la comunidad cristiana, y avergonzarse de los ataques, tanto verbales como físicos, que algunos de sus miembros lanzan a personalidades e instituciones cristianas en varios Estados del país», advierte el cardenal Ivan Dias.
Las quejas: del partido nacionalista-fundamentalista BJP
También el martes el servicio informativo del episcopado indio (ICNS) explicaba que Rajnath Singh, presidente del BJP [«Bharatiya Janata Party», partido nacionalista que respalda una visión fundamentalista del hinduismo y es el mayor en la oposición en el país. Ndr] había escrito al Papa diciendo que sus comentarios sobre las leyes anti-conversión en La India habían «dolido» en el país.
Tal misiva seguía a varias protestas de líderes del BJP por las declaraciones en las que el Santo Padre apremiaba a La India a rechazar los intentos de lanzar disposiciones «claramente discriminatorias».
Un grupo hindú quemó imágenes del Papa en varios lugares del Estado de Madhya Pradesh el sábado, contestando la «interferencia» papal en los asuntos del país.
Y es que –apunta «ICNS»-- se consideraron sus palabras como una referencia a las leyes anti-conversión (que existen en cinco Estados indios) y a los intentos de lanzar estas normas en otros Estados (Zenit, 22 mayo 2006).
Christians In India Hail Cardinal Dias' Vatican Appointment
May 29, 2006
The appointment of Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombay as the head of a Vatican congregation is a recognition of Asian culture and leadership, according to Church leaders and others in India.
NEW DELHI (UCAN, May 24, 2006) -- "It is a matter of pride for India and Asia," Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi said, welcoming the news of Cardinal Dias' appointment. What is most important in the appointment is that it ensures the presence of an Asian cardinal in the Vatican, added the head of the Catholic Church in India.
Swami Agnivesh, a leader member of the Hindu reformist group Arya Samaj, expressed happiness that "an Indian has been appointed." In his view, Cardinal Dias "will be able to put across the Indian perspective."
On May 20, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Dias, 70, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, succeeding Italian Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, 62, who was named archbishop of Naples.
Cardinal Dias is the first Asian to head the 384-year-old congregation that oversees missionary endeavors and mission dioceses around the world. Most of the 1,100 dioceses that come under its purview are in Asia and Africa.
Speaking with UCA News May 22, Cardinal Toppo said Cardinal Dias "understands Asia better" and has had "vast experience" as a Vatican diplomat in many Asian and African countries. He described the new prefect as "a veteran, rich in experience," who will be able to better assist Churches in Asia and Africa. "I am not speaking of the material help. His understanding of our culture can greatly help us grow," Cardinal Toppo elaborated.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) president continued, saying that people of Asia will now be able to approach the Vatican congregation easily, and that Cardinal Dias can apprise the pope and other cardinals of "our specific needs" since he "will be meeting the Holy Father regularly."
While addressing media persons in Ranchi May 22, Cardinal Toppo said God has a "special eye for India" and has chosen "the right man" from the country to "serve him in the most important office in the Vatican."
Father Donald De Souza, outgoing CBCI deputy secretary general, called the appointment "wonderful news for the Church of India" that has "several implications for the Asian Church, and in particular the Indian Church." Cardinal Dias' promotion is a "recognition of the Asian Church and the merging leadership," he said. "It shows that we have an equal place."
According to Swami Agnivesh, an Indian or other Asian Christian is "very different" from a Western Christian. Christianity in the West "marches on triumphalism," he explained, whereas its counterpart in the East "is meek as a lamb" but is "not weak." The Hindu leader added that he is "sure Cardinal Dias will be able to make an impact" globally.
CBCI spokesperson Father Babu Joseph noted that Cardinal Dias is the second Indian to head a Vatican office, the first being Cardinal Simon Lourdusamy, who headed the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from 1985 to 1991.
Bishop Allwyn Baretto of Sindhudurg, ordained bishop last October for the new diocese in the ecclesiastical province headed by Bombay archdiocese, said Cardinal Dias would not only help boost Church-related works in Asia, but also help people in Rome understand "our culture" better.
On the other hand, Father Mousinho de Ataide, a priest in Goa archdiocese, cautioned against focusing too much attention on India and expressed the hope that Cardinal Dias would "rise above all that."
Catholics in Bombay archdiocese, which Cardinal Dias headed from 1996, after serving for three decades in the Holy See's Secretariat of State and diplomatic corps, were jubilant about his new assignment. "His zeal and untiring efforts to spread the Word of God have earned him the important mission. He is a polyglot cardinal with clarity of thought," archdiocesan spokesperson Father Anthony Charanghatt told UCA News. Bombay is the former name of Mumbai, India's largest city, located on its western coast about 1,410 kilometers southwest of New Delhi.
Father Francis D'Britto, spokesperson of Vasai diocese, a suffragan of Bombay archdiocese like Sindhudurg, says Cardinal Dias "will do well" in his new post, just as he did in his previous international appointments.
Prior to his appointment to head Bombay archdiocese, Cardinal Dias served as apostolic pro-nuncio to Benin, Ghana and Togo from 1982, and then as apostolic nuncio to South Korea from 1987 and nuncio to Albania from 1991.
Catholic Secular Forum, a lay organization in Bombay archdiocese, hailed the appointment as the "coming of age of the Catholic Church in India."
Samantha Peters, a parishioner, says India has recognized the Church's need for evangelization and mission work. Cardinal Dias' experience in India, where some states have imposed anti-conversion laws, will help him address restrictions on missionary activities in other parts of the world, she said.
Julie Fernandes, another parishioner, said Bombay Catholics will miss their leader but know the appointment "is a platform for greater works."
«L’heure de l’Asie a sonné pour l’Église»
May 27, 2006
Pour veiller à Rome sur les pays de mission, Benoît XVI a choisi l’archevêque de Bombay, excellent connaisseur de la curie et de l’Église universelle
(La Croix, 22-05-2006) C’est un retour à Rome pour le cardinal Ivan Dias, archevêque de Bombay. À 70 ans, cet Indien, dont le nom circulait il y a un an parmi les « papabili », connaît tout autant les arcanes de la curie romaine que les horizons lointains, ceux de l’Asie notamment, où il est né. Rien de trop, dans sa riche expérience, pour prendre en main, à la suite du cardinal italien Crescenzio Sepe, nommé archevêque de Naples, l’imposante et stratégique Congrégation pour l’évangélisation des peuples.
Cet homme simple et facile d’accès, mystique et très soucieux de cohérence évangélique, est entré dans les services de la Secrétairerie d’État pour préparer le voyage de Paul VI à Bombay en 1964. Il fut successivement secrétaire de nonciature dans des pays d’Europe du Nord (Danemark, Islande et Finlande), ensuite en Indonésie, puis à Madagascar et à Maurice, avant de retourner à Rome en 1973.
Ce diplomate s’occupa alors pendant neuf ans des relations avec les États du bloc communiste auprès du cardinal Agostino Casaroli, homme de l’ostpolitik vaticane. Jean-Paul II remarqua ce chef de section de la Secrétairerie d’État, actif par exemple sur les dossiers concernant la Chine et le Vietnam, et le nomma archevêque en 1982.
L'égoïsme consumériste détruit l’esprit du christianisme
Après avoir reçu l’ordination épiscopale dans la basilique Saint-Pierre, il prit ses nouvelles fonctions de nonce apostolique, exerçant sa mission en Afrique noire (Ghana, Togo et Bénin) jusqu’en 1987, en Corée du Sud pendant les cinq années suivantes, et enfin en Albanie, à partir de 1991, pays fortement touché par les conséquences du marxisme. « Mère Teresa, Albanaise en Inde, a beaucoup aidé l’Indien que je suis à reconstruire la présence de l’Église catholique en Albanie », a reconnu le cardinal Dias, très attaché à la sainte de Calcutta.
De passage à Lourdes la semaine dernière où il est très fidèle – sa devise épiscopale « Servus » est d’ailleurs tirée des écrits sur Marie de saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort –, il a commenté pour La Croix sa vision de l’évangélisation : «Je crois que l’heure de l’Asie a sonné pour l’Église car, sur le continent d’où je viens, de nombreuses valeurs fondamentales ont été conservées, alors que le monde occidental tombe assez bas et les oublie. L’égoïsme consumériste détruit l’esprit du christianisme, il atteint l’Église de plein fouet, comme on l’a vu spécialement en Amérique du Nord avec les affaires de pédophilie.»
«Indien, je suis membre à Rome de huit congrégations – doctrine de la foi, éducation, etc. – et je peux témoigner que la voix de l’Asie est vraiment présente et écoutée au cœur de l’Église. Là où les chrétiens sont minoritaires, ils signifient qu’au lieu de maudire les ténèbres il faut allumer une bougie. Le Seigneur a son temps pour chaque chose, alors avec un peu de patience nous verrons des merveilles car les communautés catholiques d’Asie sont riches de promesses. L’urgence planétaire, c’est le dialogue soutenu avec une société en crise d’espérance, qui doute, à l’image de saint Thomas, l’apôtre évangélisateur de l’Inde.»
Col cardinale Dias, Benedetto XVI ''investe'' in Cinindia
May 27, 2006
La nomina del cardinale indiano Ivan Dias titolare di Bombay come nuovo "papa rosso" o prefetto del dicastero vaticano delle missioni ''Propaganda Fidei ''dimostra che anche Benedetto XVI vuole "investire" in Cinindia: quest'ultima nuova parola è il titolo di un libro fresco di stampa di Federico Rampini, brillante corrispondente da Pechino per "La Repubblica" e che segnala l'emergere di un agglomerato commerciale, culturale e strategico, destinato a pesare sempre di più nell' era del dopo Muro di Berlino.
(quaderniradicali.it, 21-05-2006) Ivan Dias dal punto di vista teologico e disciplinare è un Ratzinger indiano.
A Bombay ha saputo far crescere le file delle organizzazioni cattoliche, sebbene la sua salute non sia brillante.
Per via di un diabete nel 2005 nel conclave del dopo Wojtyla , è stato uno dei due cardinali costantemente scortati da un paio di infermieri.
Dias il 13 maggio 2006 ha retto la Croce da Castel S. Angelo a piazza San Pietro nella processione legata ai 25 anni dello scampato attentato da papa Wojtyla in quella piazza il 13 maggio 1981.
Probabilmente il porporato indiano sapeva già che era successore e designato al cardinale Crescenzio Sepe, trasferito a Napoli come nuovo arcivescovo.
Con Dias a coordinare le missioni Benedetto XVI "investe" in Cinindia, nello scenario asiatico nel quale i cattolici - anche con la caduta piena e effettiva della Muraglia nella Cina Popolare - sono destinati a restare sempre una minoranza, sebbene attiva.
E questo "investimento" dell' ottavo papa tedesco nella storia della chiesa cattolica denota molto coraggio: la posta in gioco è ben più alta che controproducenti appelli a boicottare il film ispirato a "Il Codice da Vinci".
Indischer Kardinal verurteilt Übergriffe auf Katholiken
Feb 11, 2006
Ein Bischof und drei Priester wurden mit Steinen beworfen. „Es war eine barbarische Tat“, sagte Ivan Kardinal Dias.
Neu Delhi (www.kath.net / Fidesdienst, 04. Februar 2006) Zu den erneuten Übergriffen auf christliches Kirchenpersonal in Indien haben zahlreichen Persönlichkeiten aus Kreisen der katholischen Kirche Stellung genommen. Am 29. Januar wurde Bischof Thomas Dabre von Vasai zusammen mit drei katholischen Priestern mit Steinen beworfen, als er an der Einweihung eines Heimes für Kinder in seiner Diözese teilnahm.
Ivan Kardinal Dias, Erzbischof von Bombay, bezeichnete den Übergriff auf den Bischof als „eine Tat barbarischer und ungerechtfertigter Gewalt“. „Wir sind zutiefst entsetzt über den Angriff auf den Bischof und die Priester, die an einer humanitären Mission teilnahmen“, sagte Kardinal Dias.
„Diese barbarischen und ungerechtfertigte Tat ist ein Unglück für unsere indischen Kultur, die Respekt und Toleranz beinhaltet und zeigt auf bedauernswerte Weise, dass es den Gruppen, die solche Taten verüben, an Sinn für Demokratie fehlt. Kardinal Dias erinnerte auch an Mahatma Gandhi und dessen Engagement für ein demokratisches und säkulares Indien.
Der Kardinal von Bombay in dessen Kirchenprovinz sich die Diözese des betroffenen Bischofs befindet, bekräftigt: „Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass die Behörden sofortige Maßnahmen gegen die Verantwortlichen dieser verbrecherischen Tat ergreifen werden, damit sie solche Episoden, die das harmonische Zusammenleben beeinträchtigen und dem säkularen Wesen unseres Mutterlandes schaden, nicht wiederholen.“
Nach Ansicht des Jesuitenpaters Cedric Prakash, der das Zentrum für Menschenrechte „Prashant“ leitet, sind diese Angriffe „Teil einer gut organisierten Kampagne, die die Christen mit Blick auf das hinduistische Kumbh Mela-Fest, das in Indien vom 11. bis 13. Februar stattfindet, einschüchtern soll“. Unterdessen haben die einheimischen Behörden bereits Ermittlungen im Zusammenhang mit dem jüngsten Vorfall eingeleitet.
Auch im Zusammenhang mit einem weiteren Übergriff, zu dem es im indischen Unionsstaat Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal kam, bei dem mehrere protestantische Gläubige, die sich zum Gebet versammelt hatten, angegriffen wurde, haben die Ermittlungen der Polizei bereits zu ersten Festnahmen geführt. Auch in Bhopal scheinen die Spannungen jedoch anzuhalten: Vor zwei Tagen hatten Mitglieder der fundamentalistischen „Bajrang Dal“-Gruppe öffentlich christliche Bilder verbrannt.
Card. Ivan Dias
Oct 03, 2005
From worldwide Vatican diplomacy to pastor-in-chief in Mumbai (Bombay). This is the path which was taken by Cardinal Ivan Dias, who today leads one of the largest dioceses in the world—10,000 Km2, 14.6 million residents, including 550,000 Catholics. His Episcopal motto consists of one word: “Servus”, that is, “servant”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews, 9 September, 2005) – Archbishop Dias was born on April 14, 1936, in Bandra, a Catholic ‘stronghold’ in Mumbai. He was ordained a priest on 8 December 1958 and just two years later he was on his way to the Vatican Diplomatic Academy in Rome.
For the next 30 years he served in different nunciatures around the world, in places as different as Scandinavia, Madagascar and Indonesia. This has meant that he has had to deal directly with vastly different situations in which the Church and Christians find themselves. As a top official in the Secretariat of State he has been involved in Soviet, Chinese and West African affairs.
As nuncio he has served in Ghana, Togo, Benin, and from 1987 till 1991 in South Korea. In the course of his many postings he has found time to pick up many languages: 17 in all, mostly European but also Korean.
His last diplomatic posting was in Albania where he stayed till 1997. In this period he befriended Mother Teresa of Calcutta. And it was he who read the homily during the mass in which Pope John Paul II beatified the Albanian nun on October 19, 2003.
For the past eight years, Mgr Dias – who John Paul II elevated to the rank of cardinal of the Title of Spirito Santo alla Ferratella in the Consistory of 21 February 2001) has led the archdiocese of Mumbai. Here he has urged the laity, which he has called fervent and vibrant, to be missionary. For him, evangelisation is the Indian Church’s top priority and he is certain that it has a bright future.
Even the ostracism and persecution by Hindu fundamentalists cannot put a dent in his optimism. “Persecution is something natural,” he said in an interview right after he was proclaimed cardinal. “The Church has always had to face it, especially just before great leaps forward”. Indeed, India will have a special place in the challenge for the Church that is Asia in the third millennium.
The Cardinal, who is a great admirer of Mother Teresa and her work, has cited her many times as a model of Christian witness, and not only for Asia. “Reaching out to our fellow human beings, embracing the poor as Mother Teresa did, must become a common service for every Christian,” he said.
The Archbishop of Mumbai has often been at the forefront of criticism of anti-Christian discrimination in Indian society: In 2002, he slammed pressures put by the authorities on Catholic schools, which have “had to put up with uncooperative and abusive public officials as well intimidation”. The Church is heavily involved in the field of education in India. In the Mumbai region alone, she runs 136 schools for a total of 300,000 pupils.
Dress code for Mumbai churchgoers
Jul 15, 2005
Cardinal Dias says skimpy clothing is unbecoming of church dignity. Miniskirts, tight outfits and plunging necklines are inappropriate for Sunday Mass, the Catholic Church in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) says.
(BBC, 12 July, 2005) Pained by churchgoers' fashion sense, the Archbishop of Mumbai, Cardinal Ivan Dias, has urged the faithful to dress modestly during services.
Church officials say it is an attempt to discourage vulgarity.
A similar plan by Bombay University recently generated a lot of debate in a city considered India's fashion centre.
Cardinal Dias told the Times of India: "Whereas in days gone by, the 'Sunday best' used to become at times a sort of fashion parade, the modern tendency would seem to go to the other extreme.
"People [are] wearing attire which is considered casual and unbecoming of the sacred dignity of the church and the members of its congregation."
Controversial
The president of the Bombay Catholic Forum, Dolphy D'Souza, told the BBC the Church had merely issued guidelines and they should not be taken as an order.
He said that issuing such guidelines was nothing new and the Church had been reminding followers about dress codes for some time.
A regular churchgoer said the guidelines were needed because Masses were increasingly becoming like a fashion show.
Mumbai has nearly 500,000 Catholics who pray in more than 100 churches.
Bombay University's recent dress code move became quite controversial.
University authorities argued that tight outfits and skimpy clothes led to crimes such as rape.
The move led to protests by many non-governmental organisations and student bodies.
The proposal has not yet been implemented.
In the past, some Hindu organisations have also tried to ban what they describe as "provocative dressing" on campus.
Indian cardinal emerging as stronger contender to be the next Pope
Apr 16, 2005
The Catholic community in Mumbai believes that Cardinal Ivan Dias who is one of the probables in the race for Papacy, would make history, if elected, as he would be the first one from Asia to grace the seat that has been the fount of 2005 years of Christianity.
(newindpress.com/ANI, April 15 2005) MUMBAI - Dias was a close friend of Pope John Paul II, and the only Asian seriously in the running to succeed him. As the Archbishop of Mumbai, Dias, even though one of the dark horses to become the next leader of the Roman Catholic church, has a huge support rallying behind him from all quarters.
Cardinal Dias has spent over three decades outside India, much of it as the Pope's emissary around the world, reinforcing the Vatican's conservative messages on issues such as homosexuality and abortion. But since his return to Mumbai eight years ago, Dias has kept a low profile and shunned the media.
With death of Pope John Paul II and the election process to begin on Monday (April 18), there is speculation about the next spiritual leader of the community. The selection, as in the past, has always been notoriously unpredictable.
The Catholic Church now draws two-thirds of its 1.1 billion members from Latin America, Asia and Africa, but has never had a Pope from the Third World. Cardinals from the "Global South" could play a decisive role in choosing a successor to John Paul II, and in some ways the conservative Dias could be a safe pair of hands.
Church leaders and Christian commentators in India, home to 18 million Catholics, are excited about his prospects. Father Joe D'souza at the Mount Carmel Church, where Cardinal Dias was baptised, believes that an Indian-born Cardinal is seen as one of the possible candidates to succeed the Pope.
"The community would feel very elated I would say and joyful about this happening because all the time we have been having Italian Popes. And with the coming of the reign of Pope John Paul II when he ruled for 26 years, he has changed the whole equation of the College of Cardinals.
Like for example we always would have more cardinals from Europe, but now the whole scenario has changed and the Cardinals are more from Africa, Asia and what you would call the third-world countries like even Latin America.
So these Cardinals could turn the balance of the next pope coming and so that is why we all feel that Cardinal Ivan Dias has a better chance of emerging, " he said.
Born in Mumbai in 1936, Dias spent his first three years as a priest doing pastoral work in Bombay. He then went to Rome to study, the first step towards a career in the Vatican hierarchy. In 1964, he joined the Church's diplomatic service and spent the next 30 years working in nunciatures, or papal embassies, around the world and as a desk officer in the Vatican's Secretariat of State.
Frequently invited to speak at conferences abroad, Dias is fluent in Hindi, English, Italian, French and Spanish. But he has kept a lower profile at home, where Catholics make up only 1.8 percent of India's majority-Hindu population of more than a billion people.
Many here say an Indian pope would boost the church throughout Asia, and the Catholic Secular Forum has asked its members to pray for the election of Dias.
"Definitely that he's contesting for the Pope's election, and I would be very proud if he becomes the Pope in future.I wish him all the best," said Anthony Cohelo, a resident of Mumbai.
Conservative Indian cardinal in race for papacy
Apr 15, 2005
New Delhi: Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias, known to toe the line of the late Pope John Paul II on homosexuality, birth control and the role of missionaries, is among the top contenders in the race to be the next pope.
(sify.com, 13 April , 2005 ) Ordained a priest on December 8, 1958, in Mumbai, Dias is said to wield considerable influence in the Vatican, so much so, according to some reports, that some liberal priests fear him.
Shortly after his ordination, he was selected to go to the Ecclesiastical Academy of Rome for studies and was a Vatican diplomat for more than 30 years in various parts of the world before returning to Mumbai, the city where he was born, in 1997 as archbishop.
Named Cardinal by John Paul 11 in February 2001, Dias has some factors going for him to land the job of leading the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, observers say.
Reports say he is a multi-linguist -- fluent in as many as 16 languages, mostly European but including Korean.
Like John Paul II, he is orthodox, mirroring many views held by the late pope.
He is said to frown on priests with leftist tendencies and has a reputation for being a tough taskmaster who feels that priests owe their duty first and last to the Church.
John Dayal, secretary of the All-India Christian Council, describes Dias as "pro-life" and believes his brand of conservatism is good for the Church.
"Dias is a great admirer of Pope John Paul II and is seen as a conservative to the laity, which is very good for the Church," he said.
In a November 2003 Vatican address, Dias referred to homosexuality as a disease of the soul, and said he prayed for such people to be "cured of their unnatural tendencies."
Another admirer of Dias, Dolphy D'Souza, described him as "pastorally quite focused" and keen for an increased involvement of ordinary Catholics in Church functions.
On the negative side, Dias has been variously described by commentators as a "follower and not a leader," "cagey" and "a closed book" compared to the late pope.
The Asian Age newspaper said Dias's tenure as archbishop of Mumbai saw an exodus of Catholics to other Christian sects.
The paper said he is close to the conservative and financially powerful Opus Dei within the Roman Catholic church, a movement admired by some and feared by others.
Prior to his elevation to cardinal, Dias, at 68 relatively young by Vatican standards, was given several key assignments by the Holy See.
He was was posted as secretary of nunciatures in Europe, Africa and Asia for eight years from 1965 to 1973.
Dias was also posted as member of the secretariat of the Vatican State for nine years between 1973 and 1982, during which countries under his charge included Pope John Paul's mother country Poland, the formr Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and many African nations.
"Cardinal Dias is in a very traditional sense a diplomat of the Vatican," Dayal said.
After becoming a cardinal, Dias was appointed member of a council looking into the organisational and economic problems of the Holy See in 2001.
During the beatification of late Nobel laureate Mother Teresa at the Vatican in October 2003, it was Dias who read the homily at the beatification ceremony of Mother Teresa in Rome.
El cardenal Días, un favorito del cónclave, diplomático conservador
Apr 15, 2005
El cardenal Iván Días, de 68 años, arzobispo de Bombay, que figura entre los favoritos del cónclave para suceder a Juan Pablo II, es un diplomático conservador e influyente del vaticano, fiel a las ideas del Papa fallecido sobre homosexualidad, aborto o contracepción.
Diario Digital/AFP, 14 de Abril del 2005) CIUDAD DEL VATICANO- Sacerdote desde diciembre de 1958, nombrado cardenal en febrero de 2001 por Juan Pablo II, el arzobispo de Bombay es conocido por su considerable influencia en el Vaticano, hasta el punto de que algunos progresistas lo temen, según la prensa india.
Seleccionado poco después de su ordenación para estudiar en la Academia Eclesiástica de Roma, ha hecho carrera más de 30 años en el cuerpo diplomático.
Our cardinal in the Vatican
Apr 13, 2005
68-year old Cardinal Ivan Dias is one of the contenders for ‘Shepherd of the Catholic Church’. His friends call him a ‘sweet holy guy’
(The Indian Express, 13 April 2005) He was the last of the Indian Cardinals to leave for the Papal election. After presiding over a requiem Mass for His Holiness Pope John Paul II at the Holy Name Cathedral in Fort, Mumbai, 68-year-old Cardinal Ivan Dias boarded a flight to Rome in the way he does most things—quietly and unobtrusively. The man Time magazine has described as ‘‘Asia’s best chance’’ for the Papacy, the man that bookies are placing odds on as a long shot for the post, has been curiously inaccessible to the media ever since the Pope’s demise.
‘‘I think he’s embarrassed by all this speculation that he might become Pope,’’ says his long-time friend and associate Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Agra. ‘‘He doesn’t like making much of himself and doesn’t like a personality cult. He’s a warm, caring human being, quiet and not effusive.’’ A close family friend describes him as ‘‘a sweet, holy guy’’. His secretary of six years, Fr. Pravin Fernandes adds succinctly: ‘‘The Cardinal is very low-profile about his achievements.’’
Of those achievements there are many. During his priestly studies he distinguished himself so well, says Fr. Fernandes ‘‘that he was handpicked by Cardinal Valerian Gracias (India’s first cardinal) for higher studies at the Pontifical Academy in Rome, which trains future ambassadors for the Vatican’s diplomatic corps’’.
Cardinal Dias holds a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome. And while his fluency in 17 languages could be an apocryphal story, an associate confirms that he is proficient in about a dozen including Hindi, his mother tongue Konkani, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and Korean.
Ivan Dias was born in Mumbai on April 14, 1936. His father worked with the Government of Maharashtra. Of his three brothers, one is a doctor and another is a retired Lieutenant General. Young Ivan studied at the city’s St. Stanislaus High School. He was ordained a priest in 1958, and became a bishop 24 years later.
As a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic service since 1964, he has held diplomatic posts (including some ambassadorial appointments) in several countries, among them Indonesia, Mauritius, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Korea and Albania. In November 1996, he was appointed Archbishop of Mumbai.
Despite his retiring personality, The Man-Who-Might-Be-Pope clearly has a sense of humour. On his 2001 appointment as the third cardinal in Mumbai’s history, he reportedly described the occasion as ‘‘a red-hat-trick’’ for the city—an allusion to the red headgear that is a mark of a cardinal.
If complexity and contradiction are constant companions of greatness, Cardinal Dias is an assured candidate. Although he has consistently refused to give press interviews since the Pope passed away, his letter on the Mumbai Archdiocese website observes: ‘‘Globally, the Church’s attitude to media has grown from a lack of positive involvement to acceptance, critical understanding and the possibility of evangelising it. It is with the growing recognition of the media’s potential for good, and its value as a means of personal and collective sanctification, that we have launched our archdiocesan website.’’
As an Indian, what would he bring to the Papacy? ‘‘Like the last Pope, he too would lay great stress on dialogue with other religions. After all, inter-faith dialogue is something that comes naturally to any Indian,’’ says Gracias, the Archbishop of Agra. During his tenure, the Cardinal has continued the Mumbai Archdiocese’s tradition of hosting an annual Christmas meeting of leaders of all religions. Yet, he is known to hold views that are contrary to the position taken by the Roman Catholic Church after the revolutionary Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which declared, to put it simply, that you don’t have to be a Christian to attain salvation.
Those familiar with the history of the Church will tell you that Vatican II (in which John Paul II was a moving force) had displeased many conservatives within the Catholic Church at the time. Perhaps that is why, while listing Cardinal Dias as one of the top 20 contenders for the Papacy, the respected US-based newsweekly National Catholic Reporter says, ‘‘Dias is traditional and conservative in outlook, which separates him from the mainstream of the Indian episcopacy and theological community, known for its embrace of religious pluralism and a progressive stance on social questions.’’ Whoever wrote that is probably also aware that Cardinal Dias is believed to strongly adhere to the traditional position of the Roman Catholic Church on both abortion and homosexuality.
So does Cardinal Dias really stand a chance? Moments before leaving for Vatican City last week, Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo of Ranchi had told The Indian Express, ‘‘Speculation does not work in the case of the Papal election. A history of 2,000 years proves that it is God’s work.’’ Adherents to fact, not faith, and well-wishers of our man from Mumbai may point out though that recent history has favoured the dark horse: After all, on the eve of the 1978 vote, who knew that in 2005 the world would be mourning the passing away of a Pole who we know as Pope John Paul II?
'I am upset at the media hype'
Apr 12, 2005
Dr Olaf Dias, younger brother of Cardinal Ivan Dias, is upset. “Though I hate publicity, I’m forced to speak as the unwarranted media hype about my brother is upsetting me.”
(mid-day.com, April 4, 2005) Dias is the brother of the archbishop of Mumbai, Cardinal Ivan Dias. Since Pope John Paul II’s illness and subsequent death, the cardinal’s name has generated media hype as the person likely to be the next pope.
Says Dr Dias, “I was hurt that even when the Holy Father was alive, the media discussed the papacy. Why should the papacy be discussed in his lifetime?
This was morally wrong. It is also sad to see that the media highlighted the names of three cardinals of India, overlooking the names of other cardinals from other countries.”
He added that his prayer were with all the cardinals who would take part in the conclave to choose the new pope, that God direct them to cast the right vote. There are 117 other cardinals from among whom the pope will be chosen.
“Pope John Paul II taught the world to love, forgive and respect human dignity. He also championed the cause of the youth, the underprivileged, the marginalised and the poor. He also opened the door to inter-religious dialogue —– showing us that peoples of different faiths could leave in harmony for the betterment of mankind,” said Dias.
He said that the pope’s death was a great loss to the entire world because he left no stone unturned in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, but did so practically,” Dias added.
Before dying the pope communicated to the pilgrims who had come to the Vatican that “I came to see you and now you have come to see me,” which expressed his gratitude for those who stood by him in his dying moments.
To the manner born
Cardinal Ivan Dias (68) is the second eldest amongst four brothers including Lt. General Francis Dias (Retd.), Ralph Dias and Dr Olaf Dias. While Francis was born in Pune the other brothers were born and brought up in Bandra.
Dr Olaf says that their mother Maria was a housewife who expired in 1991, while their father Carlos Nazario Dias was employed as Under Secretary (Home Department) in the Morarjee Desai government. Their father expired in 1953.
Man of mettle
If Cardinal Dias gets to be the next pope, here’s what he will bring with him
Born: April 14, 1936, Bombay.
Education: Seminary of Bombay; Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, Rome; Pontifical Lateran University, Rome (doctorate in canon law).
Speaks: Hindi, English, Italian, Spanish and French.
Profession: Ordained, December 8, 1958, Bombay, by Cardinal Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay. Pastoral work in Bombay, 1958-1961.
Further studies, Rome, 1961-1964. Privy chamberlain of His Holiness, December 4, 1964. Worked in the secretariat of state preparing the visit of Pope Paul VI to the International Eucharistic Congress of Bombay, 1964.
Episcopate: Elected titular archbishop and appointed pro-nuncio in Ghana, Togo and Benin, May 8, 1982.
Consecrated: June 19, 1982, Vatican City, by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, secretary of State.
Nuncio: In Korea, June 20, 1987. Nuncio in Albania, October 28, 1991. Apostolic administrator of apostolic administration of Southern Albania, 1992-1996.
Transferred to metropolitan see of Bombay, November 8, 1997. Attended Special Assembly for Asia of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, April 19-May 14, 1998.
Cardinalate: Created cardinal priest in the consistory of February 21, 2001, received the red biretta and the title of Spirito Santo alla Ferratella, February 21, 2001.
Member of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See, March 10, 2001.
Attended X Ordinary Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, September 30-October 27, 2001; president delegate.
Special papal envoy to the celebrations programmed in Tirana, April 25, 2003, for the 10th anniversary of the papal visit to Albania.
Could next pope be a Mumbaiite?
Apr 12, 2005
Mumbai’s Archbishop Ivan Dias may be among the contenders, for the post of the next pope, if strong speculation by church-going communities is, anything to go by.
(Times of Oman, 11 of April 2005) MUMBAI — ‘Probably true’ is how Fr Praveen Fernandes, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Bombay, reacts to the reports.
The deterioration in Pope John Paul II’s health intensified speculation over who will succeed him, but whatever happens the choice is expected to reflect the profound changes within the Roman Catholic Church in the past decades.
The Vatican yesterday said the Pope was struggling between life and death after his condition deteriorated dramatically following an overnight heart attack. The 84-year-old pope is ‘conscious, lucid and serene’, a Vatican spokesman said in Rome but added the pontiff had received rites administered to the ill when approaching death.
The death of the Pope immediately sets into motion a historic chain of events to elect a successor and prevent any risk of division in the Roman Catholic Church.
Names of prelates from Asia, Africa and Latin America are being considered and, reportedly, Archbishop Dias is on the list.
However, Fr Fernandes says the Archdiocese has received no official intimation, “although there’s a lot of speculation going around”. He adds that the source of the information is still unclear. “Many cardinals will go for elections,” he says.
“But don’t know yet if Cardinal Ivan Dias has been shortlisted.”
The Roman Pontiff is the religious leader of and a symbol of unity for all bishops and the 1.1 billion Catholics in the world.
Having appointed 115 of the 120 cardinals who will elect the pope, appointing a new pontiff will finally be in the hands of Pope John Paul Il, exercising his influence in view of his stand on controversial issues like abortion, homosexuality, bioethics and the role of women.
Apart from Cardinal Dias, the contenders include Francis Arinze from Nigeria and Oscar Rodriguez Maradaiga, a Honduran, among others.
Meanwhile, Sisters from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity order offered special prayers yesterday for the ailing Pope, who has received the last rites after suffering a heart attack. “Our dear Holy Father, we are with you in your suffering. We pray for you. We love you,” said a statement quoting Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa’s successor.
“The Missionaries of Charity around the world are offering prayers for the recovery of our Holy Father...
“Even as we accompany our Holy Father in his illness with our thoughts and prayers, we are confident of the abundance of graces he is surely receiving from the Almighty,” the statement added.
Nobel laureate Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003 — one of the fastest beatifications in Catholic history.
A conference on depression
Apr 12, 2005
An Anglo-Saxon evaluation of the Nov. 13-15 depression conference, therefore, might focus on the fact that it produced no discernible “result.” From the Roman perspective, on the other hand, that was never the point.
(From the National Catholic Reporter, November 21, 2003) Cardinal Ivan Dias of Mumbai (Bombay), India, delivered the conference’s final talk. Careful readers will have noted that he is on the list of “top 10” papal candidates above.
Dias’ paper was titled, “Towards a Pastoral Care of Christian Faith and Trust in Life.” He emphasized use of the Bible, openness to the movements of the Holy Spirit, and the sacraments as keys to a pastoral strategy for depressed persons.
Dias offered examples of this pastoral care, which also help illustrate his attitude towards the hot-button issues of abortion and homosexuality.
“It is an open secret that hidden and unforgiven sins easily lead a person to be depressed,” Dias said. He told the story of a priest who was counseling a depressed woman. The priest bluntly asked if she had had an abortion. After initial anger, she said yes.
“The priest led her step by step to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation,” Dias said. “Then he helped her to accept the child she had rejected, to love it and even to give it a name. At every step the lady became calmer and at the end was all smiles at the thought of meeting her baby one day.”
Similarly, Dias said he knew a priest who had worked with three homosexual and lesbian couples.
“For many years they had been trying to get rid of their inordinate attachments through professional counseling and through the confessional, but in vain,” Dias said. “Their problem was leading them not to death of the body, but more seriously to that of the soul. You will be glad to learn that all three cases were cured completely of their unnatural tendencies.”
Dias urged greater effort in helping those who suffer from depression.
“Pastoral care for the depressed is a must today. It must enter every home, parish, community, diocese and society at large,” he said.
Ivan Dias, archevêque de Bombay
Apr 12, 2005
Ivan Dias, archevêque de Bombay, 68 ans, est né en 1936 à Bombay. Sa promotion dans la liste des papabili est récente et rapide. Il réunit toutes les qualités attendues d'un prochain pape non européen : il vient d'un continent dont Jean Paul II a dit, en novembre 1999, qu'il serait celui du "troisième millénaire" du christianisme et il a une expérience ancienne et concrète du gouvernement de l'Eglise.
(Le Monde, 01.04.05) Prêtre depuis 1958, Ivan Dias entre jeune dans la carrière diplomatique. Il est nonce en Afrique et surtout dans l'Albanie postcommuniste. Il est alors proche de Mère Teresa de Calcutta et de Jean Paul II. Il rétablit une vie d'Eglise normale dans une Albanie où la foi avait été éradiquée par le dictateur Enver Hodja et il entretient de bons rapports avec l'Eglise orthodoxe.
Le pape le nomme en 1996 archevêque de Bombay, où il s'impose comme le porte-parole de la minorité chrétienne (3 % de la population), parfois agressée par les nationalistes hindous. A Bombay, Ivan Dias vit plutôt pauvrement.
Il est d'abord simple et chaleureux. C'est le "Gandhi" des catholiques indiens, dit un proche. Conservateur, il est aussi à l'origine des sanctions romaines prises contre un théologien, Jacques Dupuy, auteur de thèses audacieuses pour un rapprochement entre le christianisme et les grandes traditions asiatiques.
Variety of experience gives cardinal from India high profile
Apr 12, 2005
Experience as an archbishop, as a Vatican diplomat and in the Roman Curia gave Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias of Mumbai a high profile in the College of Cardinals at the end of Pope John Paul II's pontificate.
VATICAN CITY (CNS, Apr-1-2005 ) -- The cardinal frequently is a featured speaker at Vatican-sponsored events, yet he is reluctant to grant interviews, and very little about him has appeared in the press, either in India or abroad.
When the chief Vatican correspondent for Italy's state-run television station -- the station that has an exclusive cooperation agreement with the Vatican for broadcasting papal events -- tried to interview the cardinal, he politely declined all but a brief exchange.
"If you want pictures of me, I prefer you take them while I'm praying, not while I'm talking. People on their knees are more eloquent," he told the reporter. "Humanity needs witness of faith, not orators."
Just a month after the Indian prelate was named a cardinal in February 2001, Pope John Paul named him to be one of three presidents of the world Synod of Bishops and a member of three key Vatican congregations: doctrine, Catholic education and worship and the sacraments.
The need for strong, convinced witnesses of faith is a recurring theme in his speeches and messages, whether addressed to an international gathering of priests, a Vatican conference on health care, a religious order holding its general chapter or one of his rare interviews.
In October, Cardinal Dias was the homilist at one of the liturgies held during a Vatican-sponsored international gathering of priests in Malta. He said that "in a world dominated by information technology, by New Age teaching and by the decline of ethical values," God is calling priests to be models and guides of holiness for others.
Cardinal Dias told the priests, "God forges saints on the anvil of love, which sometimes takes the form of a cross.
"Every saint has had to overcome difficulties and suffering of various kinds, but all of them have done so with a profound interior peace and with spiritual joy. In fact, we know that a sad saint is a poor saint," he said.
While his own cultural background and his diplomatic experience make him sensitive to the need to respect and value other religions, Cardinal Dias, 68, was one of the most outspoken supporters of the controversial 2000 document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the uniqueness of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Speaking to reporters in Rome shortly after the document, "Dominus Iesus," was released, the then-archbishop said, "It is a reaffirmation of what we believe and what we think," namely that "Jesus is the only savior of the world."
"We have a right to say who we are, and others can accept it or not," he said.
Giving strength to the suspicion that the document was prompted particularly by the interreligious efforts of Asian theologians, and especially those working in India, he said clarity was needed in countries where the vast majority of people are not Christian.
Trying to find ways to communicate what the Catholic Church believes and to foster dialogue, some Indian theologians have presented the faith in ways that have not always been as clear as "Dominus Iesus" calls them to be, he said.
"The faith of the people is strong and constant," he said. "If a few theologians are making mistakes, that is a problem for the bishops."
Yet, in a speech to an international meeting of bishops the same week, he said the Catholic Church, through its bishops, "must make every effort to relate to every human being without any superiority complex and with a spirit of true and humble service."
The spiritual beliefs and practices of other religions, he said, are "a genuine invitation to dialogue, not only in those things which they have in common with Christian culture, but also in their differences."
In December 2001, with fundamentalist Hindus continuing their attacks on Indian Christians and with heightened world concern about Islamic fundamentalism in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States, Cardinal Dias invited leaders of all Mumbai's religious communities to his home.
The cardinal said the gathering was "a meeting for peace in a world torn apart by war and hatred" and pledged that he and the other leaders would "spread the message to the world" that religious faith always seeks peace and promotes respect for others.
Cardinal Dias has consistently warned of the dangers of materialism. At a 2003 Vatican conference on clinical depression, Cardinal Dias said the Christian virtue of hope, based on faith, is needed not only by individuals, but also by rich countries as a whole and by "the developing nations who often try to mimic the richer ones."
Despite "affluence in wealth, the immensity of knowledge and spectacular inventions and achievements," he said, entire countries are being "crushed down by godless ideologies and enticing proposals that exalt the anti-God cultures, including the culture of death."
The cardinal also told the conference he believed the sacraments of reconciliation and of the anointing of the sick could cure people who are depressed because they are gay.
He told the conference he knew a priest who had helped two male couples and a female couple by leading "them first to receiving individually the sacrament of reconciliation, and then the anointing of the sick because their problem was leading them not to death of the body, but more seriously that of the soul."
"You will be glad to learn that all the three cases were cured completely of their unnatural tendencies," he said.
In his preaching and teaching, Cardinal Dias also has a penchant for combining quotes from Scripture with everyday images.
"The bishop, like the donkey, must carry Jesus high on his shoulders for all the people to see and hear and follow. The hosannas and the alleluias, the palm and olive branches, the clothes strewn before it on the roadside are not for the donkey, but for his lord and master," he told an international conference for bishops in Rome in 2000.
The cardinal's faith and 39 years in the Vatican's diplomatic service have been evident in his pastoral ministry in India, whether he was denouncing the fundamentalist attacks on Christians or leading prayers for peace between India and Pakistan when tensions arose over control of Kashmir.
When he was named to the College of Cardinals, he said his experience in the diplomatic service taught him to avoid confrontation and solve problems through dialogue and fostering good will, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand.
But that did not stop him from clearly asserting the rights of Catholics in India to worship freely, to serve the poor and needy and to invite others to join the Catholic Church.
Ivan Dias was born April 14, 1936, in Bandra, a Catholic stronghold in the western Indian city of Mumbai, then Bombay. After graduating from Jesuit-run St. Stanislaus High School, he entered the seminary.
In a 2001 interview with the Italian magazine 30 Giorni, he said the Blessed Virgin Mary was important in his vocation and is a continuing influence in his faith.
"It was the Blessed Mother who attracted and seized me," he said. "Her image is even on my episcopal ring."
The cardinal said he learned his love for the liturgy from his family.
"As is the case with many Indian families, my mother took us to Mass every day. That is not unusual in India, because it is normal for a family to approach the Eucharist each day," he said.
He was ordained a priest in 1958 and worked at St. Stephen's Church in Mumbai for two years before going to Rome to study at the Vatican institute for diplomats. On completing his studies in 1964, he was appointed to the Vatican Secretariat of State.
He worked for the secretariat's Eastern Europe desk for nine years, at the height of the Cold War, and became acquainted with the then-archbishop of Krakow, Poland -- later Pope John Paul.
He also began picking up familiarity with an increasing number of languages, eventually managing to function in more than a dozen different tongues.
He served at nunciatures in Scandinavia, Indonesia and Madagascar.
He was transferred to the Vatican's Council for the Public Affairs of the Church as chief of the desk that served several former Soviet republics, as well as West African countries and China.
In 1982 he was consecrated archbishop and sent as apostolic nuncio to Ghana, Togo and Benin. In 1987 he was appointed apostolic nuncio to South Korea, where he worked for four years. He said he was impressed by the South Koreans' deep faith, which prompted him to learn Korean.
In 1991 he was appointed apostolic nuncio to post-communist Albania, where his task was to rebuild the church after decades of harshly imposed official atheism.
The future cardinal invited foreign missionaries to the country and worked with the Albanian government to recover Catholic churches and schools. By the end of his tenure in 1997, the Vatican had consecrated six bishops for Albania.
While in Albania, he received the Gold Medal of the Order of Mother Teresa, a national award for service to honor the nun who was born of Albanian parents in Skopje, now in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
«She made visible the face of Jesus»
Apr 12, 2005
Thus Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias sums up the work of Mother Teresa. The Archbishop of Bombay also speaks of the Catholic Church in India, of relations with the state and with other religions.
(30Days, 2003 October) “Missions in the pontificate of Pope John Paul II” is the title of the report that Ivan Dias, the 67 year-old, cardinal and Archbishop of Bombay, will give at the end of the conference in honor of the Pope on Saturday 18 October. India is a land of missions, it was so for Mother Teresa – whom Dias knew when nuncio in Albania – and it is so in the ways proper to the Indian Church (back from the ad limina visit), that Dias describes for us here: great patience, openness, freedom.
Your Eminence, Mother Teresa is to be beatified...
IVAN DIAS: To the Indian people it appears natural that Mother Teresa be beatified, and that one day she will also be canonized. Because what she did and testified to is a living thing, valid also today and it is understandable to all Indians, who in the absolute majority are not Christians: Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, Sikhs… The Christians in India are 23,000,000, 2.3 per cent of a population of more than a billion people, and the Catholics are only 1.8 per cent. As for us, the people of God, many in their hearts look to Mother Teresa as to a saint, who made visible the face of Jesus. She who, faced with painful and difficult situations, didn’t hide the fact that she was able to deal with them only because she saw Jesus in the poor; she kept in her heart that passage of the Gospel that says: «Any thing you have done for one of these little ones you have done for me». It’s easy to understand then why the government decided to honor her with a state funeral: a tribute that from the independence of contemporary India down to today has been accorded, except for institutional personalities, only to Mahatma Gandhi.
I very much hope that this admirable witness of Mother Teresa spreads ever more widely. Her missionary nuns are already in Bombay, for example, and the brothers of the male branch founded by her, but for a while now I’ve also been seeing lay people who, after her example, follow the nuns and the brothers through the streets and take care of the poorest. And that impresses everybody, Christians and non-Christians. The Indian episcopate recently made the ad limina visit. How did you prepare yourselves to meet the Pope?
DIAS: It was a normal event, I’d say. Each bishop prepared a report for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The ad limina visits are programmed on a regional base: we of Bombay belong to the area of west India, the Western Region. The first to visit the Pope were the Syro-malabarese and Syro-malancarese prelates, belonging to the other two Catholic rites present in India. Then it was the turn of us Latins. Each region of India has its own particularity, and the Pope knows it. To us of the west area, however, he also spoke about India in general.
About what?
DIAS: Criticizing the behavior of fundamentalist Hindus who hamper the life of the Church. The Pope was referring to the five Indian States where laws exist prohibiting so-called “forced conversions”. With sensible interpretation, such rules should not worry the Catholic Church in any way. But unfortunately some government officials sometimes apply them in arbitrary fashion, despite the ample assurances of local and central governments that there is absolutely no anti-Catholic pressure and that the laws should only worry little groups and sects which, they say, persuade people by means of bribes. Whoever conceived these ambiguous norms knows, however, that our faith is not an intellectual choice, that one can convert because one has seen good works, has received some benefit… in short, also for some good practical reason. But that is considered a snare by ill-wishers and sets the rigors of the law in motion.
However if norms restricting the freedom of Christians are in force in five Indian States, I don’t believe it’s an insuperable obstacle. If for example someone wants to be baptized openly, he can do it in the neighboring state and return home the same day. Quite definitely, the daily life of the Church, even in a Hindu state, is a great deal simpler than one imagines. Among Christians there is a dialogue on the shared faith. And with ordinary people, of whatever religion, there is the very fine dialogue of daily life.
Have you accepted this attitude on the part of some government officials?
DIAS: Well yes, we believe that the principal source of the obduracy of some Hindus towards the Church lies in their conception of the caste system, that doesn’t admit exceptions to the hierarchy that descends from the Brahmin down to the dalit, the outcast. Whereas if a person is converted to Christianity, he doesn’t belong to any caste any longer, and being without caste would have the same rights as the most important Brahmin magnate! The aim of those who want to turn India into a Hindu State, to stand against Moslem Pakistan, is to prevent this by firmly crystallizing the caste system. The Pope has spoken out against this anti-conversion law because it violates human rights, and has been censured by some Indian politicians, to whom our national Episcopal Conference gave a good answer.
There is discrimination also against the adivasis, who are the original inhabitants of the country. The recent elevation to the cardinalate of an adivasi, Monsignor Telesphore Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, is a visible sign that the Church believes all men to be equally sons of God.
How can one be Christian without wanting to revolutionize the caste system?
DIAS: It has to be fairly said that the number of Hindus against the Church is very small, albeit some are today in government. This is not, however, the conviction of ordinary people, because Hinduism as such allows other religions, and in our daily life there is much harmonious co-existence: not least because the Hindus see that the Christians charities are opened to all, without any distinction of caste or social status or religious belief.
Four years ago Hindu fundamentalists burned alive a Protestant Australian missionary and his two sons, because he was working among the lepers. They said in excuse that he was making conversions and that he was unlawfully helping people who, according to Hindu beliefs in karma (reincarnation), were paying for the sins of a previous life through the disease. The Christians instead, like the Good Samaritan, are friends of all; in India almost a third of charity toward the poor, orphans, lepers or Aids sufferers is the work of Christians. Mother Teresa saw and loved Jesus in the poor she succored, in the lepers, and that was how, just for that reason, she found the courage to embrace those disintegrating bodies.
Starting from your diocese, what characterizes your daily life?
DIAS: The bishops of the Western Region have the custom of meeting amongst ourselves twice a year, the whole Latin Episcopal Conference meets once, and every two years we all come together with the Malabarese and the Malancarese. In that way we exchange much information and experiences in fraternal fashion, not least to help one another. Our superiors in Rome are constantly informed of what our Church is doing for the education of children, for the care of patients and for Indian society in general: that is our daily life. We don’t have big problems. There are some Indian states, such as Gujarat, where the pressure of extreme factions is felt: there are in general no dangers for Christian charities, but unfortunately violence has been done to individual missionaries. Two years ago Gujarat suffered the big disaster of an earthquake, and recently there have been clashes between Hindus and Moslems. Five years ago the Hindu factions attacked Christians, now the conflict is rather with the Moslems, and we Christians try to calm tempers. The Catholic Church is often asked to mediate for peace, and it never turns its back. We also help to relieve the sufferings of victims of natural disasters. Following on the earthquake in Gujarat the diocese of Bombay made a collection for homeless families. It went well and Caritas has entrusted us with the building of a thousand homes…
Furthermore, a fine flower we have offered the Church is the numerous religious vocations. There are around 70,000 priests and 100,000 nuns in India for 18,000,000 Catholics, and it’s perhaps the highest ratio in Asia.
Let us come back to the meetings in Rome.
DIAS: Visiting the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the discussion turned to those Indian theologians who have difficulty in explaining our faith in Jesus sole Savior of all men. The theme had already been examined by the Congregation for Catholic Education during the apostolic visit to the seminaries. With the Pontifical Council for the Inter-religious Dialogue there was a fraternal collaboration, as also with the Congregation for Divine Worship. We clearly shared many questions with the Congregation for the Evangelization of peoples. Finally there was the meeting with the Pope, who surprised us all by the interest shown in the problems of our dioceses and by his memories of so many people met and places visited during his trips to our dioceses. In Rome there is the universal Church and the Pope is faithful to his mandate of “confirming the brethren”.
Was there a common denominator in the discussions with the Roman departments?
DIAS: Inculturation. India is a mosaic of cultures. One can’t say that there is a dominant Indian culture. The Indian people is, besides, already deeply religious of itself. Jesus did not come “to abolish” – we tell people who, faced with the challenge of Christianity, are worried about the future of their traditional creed – but to bring fulfillment. In India Jesus can be witnessed to only with patience: there are many obstacles in India that the Church must face, such as the caste system, corruption, co-existence among the religious communities. Since there isn’t a sole Indian culture, but several cultures, much remains in the hands of local bishops. For example, throughout India over two hundred languages are spoken in the central state, and who knows them all? In Bombay alone there are at least seven. So when a liturgical text is translated, the responsibility is left to the local bishop, in whom we must put our trust. We make it known in Rome that a text has been translated, and we don’t claim that the recognitio means that the content of the text is perfect. For the future – on the request of the relevant Roman department – a member of the national Episcopal Conference who knows the tongue de quo will sit on the commission for recognition.
You said that the testimony of great patience comes from the Indian Church.
DIAS: And of great openness, something constituent of the Indian spirit: that is why the ordinary man, in New Delhi as in Bombay, knows that the extremist is a foreigner, is outside the culture of our people. In Bombay there is a Catholic sanctuary frequented – and it is not the only case - by Hindus, by Sikhs also … Every Wednesday there are around 70,000 people praying to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the majority are not Catholics. And Our Lady grants her favors and graces to all, she is a mother. Ours is a dialogue of life, practical. On 8 September, Mary’s birthday, there are Catholic sanctuaries where from two to three million people gather to celebrate Our Lady. They are days of festival and fairs. Even Hindus go to greet Our Lady on her birthday. They find something special in Mary: «In our religion», they say, «there are women goddesses, instead you have this woman with the child in her arms, a mommy…» Thus some of us have a chance to explain our dear faith to them: that that woman is there because of that child. And who is that child? Jesus.
How is the primacy of Peter experienced by the Churches in India?
DIAS: All the Catholic-Latin, Syro-malabarese and Syro-malancarese Churches are united with Rome, they accept the Pope and his primacy. Others, while faithful to the apostolic traditions, are not in full communion with the Apostolic See of Rome. A Syro-malancarese community united recently with the Patriarchate of Antioch, with which it had had relations for some time. We are open and fraternize with all, whatever their attitude to Rome, we don’t have problems with ecumenism in Bombay. Indeed, for example, we work together with five other non-Catholic communities on charity toward the dead: the State has given shared burial places for Christians, and the five Christian confessions have together created a trust to administer all the requirements. There is such good understanding with these Christian brethren that it’s a pleasure to work together, have this very practical dialogue. Theologically speaking, there are among them those who don’t accept the Pope, who don’t share any situation of faith and morals with us, but in practice we live together as brothers.
As for us Catholics specifically, the Pope is the Pope, and the Curia listens to us with great openness. Here we know each other well, we and Rome, with a respect that does honor to both, and in Rome they know well that it is the local bishop who leads his Church in holy fashion. From this standpoint the ad limina visit is an encounter between the universal Church and the local Church, that already represents and contains the universal: it’s an exercise in catholicity.
Is there anything anomalous to point to in relations between State and Church in India?
DIAS: No. Only the odd friction due to the presence in central government of some representatives of extremist thinking, as I’ve already mentioned. But dealing with it is the business of the Nunciature and of the General Secretariat of the National Episcopal Conference in New Delhi, not of the individual bishop… I mention here only the denial of visa to missionaries, motivated by the problem of proselytism.
India is nowadays acknowledged to have greater international political importance, something the New Delhi government often handles in favor of multilateralism. Does the Church benefit from this favorable situation in the State?
DIAS: As pastor I see that the economic wave of globalization ridden by India is infecting the dough of which my people is made, wiping out its points of daily spiritual reference, and that grieves me. I remember an audience I had with the Holy Father, around 1983-84, when it was expected that Communism would collapse and a new era immediately spring up. The Pope told me that the surrender of Communism, that is of theoretical atheism, was necessary but not sufficient, and that before being able to build a civilization of love, capitalism must be beaten also, that is to say practical atheism. His was not a utopian vision, but a realistic one: he wanted in fact to follow John XXIII, in his desire of seeing a new springtime in the Church, and Paul VI, who awaited the coming of a civilization of love.
Both these Popes, a brief pontificate and a longer one, are still strongly present in the imaginative life of the Church, which identifies them in the season of Vatican Council II. But to get to a springtime one only has to wait for the clay to be kneaded and shaped by the Lord.
You have come to Rome to celebrate the 25th jubilee of the present pontificate.
DIAS: The Pope has given us a beautiful example of what it means to have the faith of Peter and the heart of Paul. When one speaks of Rome one speaks of the faith of Peter, the stronghold founded on the rock that winds and tides do not shake. And like Saint Paul, who became everything to everybody, the Pope has traveled the whole world as herald of the Good News of Jesus Christ and defender of the rights of man and his inalienable dignity. Pope John Paul II has been a real Pope, and has had the time to assert himself.
A brown Pope? The long odds on Bombay's Cardinal Dias
Apr 12, 2005
With the passing of the Pontiff, there is an outside possibility that the next Pope will be Bombay's Cardinal Ivan Dias. As with the Olympics, the Indian is the long shot. According to the Associated Press, bookies have listed the odds as 16:1 against him; the only online betting agency I can find gives the odds at 47:1 right now.
(sepiamutiny.com, April 03, 2005) India has 16,694,000 Catholics who make up 1.54% of the country's population. This makes it 16th in the world in terms of the number of Catholics per country. However, India does not have alot of leverage in the selection process for the new Pope. India has five Cardinals, only three of whom are eligible to vote. Cardinals Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy and Simon Ignatius Pimenta are over 80, and are excluded from voting by an age limited introduced by Pope John Paul II himself. The remaining three Cardinals are Cardinal Ivan Dias of Mumbai, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of the Kerala based Syro Malabar Church, and Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo of Ranchi.
The speculation about an Indian Pope seems to have emerged when that most religious of magazines, Businessweek, stated that Cardinal Ivan Dias (described simply as "a friend of Mother Teresa") was under consideration for the top job.
According to the Calcutta Telegraph:
Dias, the archbishop of Mumbai, is among 13 cardinals believed to be in the running.
Twenty-six years ago, the Vatican created history by anointing John Paul II, a Pole, the first non-Italian to be elected to the top post in over 400 years. There is now speculation if history will be made again by naming the first Indian and, possibly more important, the first non-White.
Whether or not Dias is chosen, there is a likelihood that a non-White could actually become the Pope because several of the cardinals being tipped for the post are from Latin America and Africa. Dias’s office had earlier dismissed as “rubbish” the speculation that he was a candidate.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India spokesman, Fr Babu Joseph, said: “The Indian Church will be happy and proud if the next Pope comes from the country. But these (about Dias’s prospects) are speculative reports. The papal election does not happen just like that.”
Dias has a few factors going for him. For instance, he has been a Vatican diplomat for 33 years in various parts of the world before coming to Mumbai in 1997 as the archbishop. He knows 17 languages, mostly European, and even speaks Korean. Above all, like Pope John Paul, he is orthodox, and is relatively young at 69 by Vatican standards. [Telegraph]
Despite all of his positive attributes, some consider Dias to be (ahem) at a geographical disadvantage when it comes to competing for the job:
Sources, however, said irrespective of the arithmetic of the electoral college, the outcome is determined by the Vatican’s influence. A church source explained that huge funds are required to run the Vatican and only a White Pope can raise the money as he is able to tap with ease large private corporations and heads of European countries. [Telegraph]
My thinking is that the next Pope will be Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "a German who has been John Paul's enforcer on Church doctrine." He'd be a place holder, somebody almost identical to the outgoing candidate, who would probably only be in office a short time. This would give the Cardinals enough time to pick the next long term Pope, likely somebody from the Third World.
Despite the historic and continuing influence of the Italian Cardinals who hold 38 seats in the College of Cardinals, the future of the Catholic Church is clearly outside of Europe. Only 15% of Western Europeans go to Church once a week, and they are a rapidly greying population. Even countries like Spain, Portual and Ireland are rapidly secularizing. [In the UK, more Muslims go to Friday services than Christians go to Sunday Services, even though Muslims are only 2% of the population] Pope John Paul had bet on Eastern Europe to reverse that trend, but instead Eastern Europe is secularizing as well. Personally, I'd bet on Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze who at 3:1 is the market's second choice for the job. [The odds are 5:2 in favor of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan]
The selection of Arinze as the first African Pope since Gelasius I, who died in the year 496, would certainly put the issue of poverty at the top of the agenda. [Businessweek]
You can watch the odds yourself, though sites like bestbetting.com. They put the odds against Cardinal Dias at 43:1, a downward shift since the AP report on this subject. [Note, almost all the odds given in this post are from the AP, except for the 43:1 odds on Dias, which is from Bestbetting]
For those enterprising punters out there, no you can't just ask the tailor for an inside scoop:
The election is an elaborate process, requiring a majority of at least two-thirds plus one. When the conclave elects a Pope, he is asked if he accepts and which name he wishes to take. Once this is done, he dons papal vestments — tailors keep several sizes ready — and sits on a throne in the Sistine Chapel to receive the other cardinals who file up to pay homage and pledge obedience. [Telegraph]
p.s. my apologies for scooping the only Catholic mutineer on this story and sincerely hope this wont precipitate any more hungama. Really :)
Heute werden Christen verfolgt, doch die Zukunft gehört uns
Apr 05, 2005
Interview mit Kardinal Ivan Dias von Bombay
Vatikanstadt (Fides, 23.2.2001) – „Die Zukunft der Kirche in Indien ist glänzend. Die Verfolgungen sind nur ein Vorgeschmack auf eine große Blütezeit", erklärte der neugewählte Kardinal und Erzbischof von Bombay, Ivan Dias gegenüber Fides. Der Erzbischof von Bombay befindet sich anlässlich des Konsistoriums vom 21. Februar in Rom. Seit 1996 leitet der 65jährige Ivan Dias die Erzdiözese Bombay. Die Erzdiözese gehört mit ihren 10.000 qkm Ausdehnung und insgesamt 14.600.000 Einwohnern, von denen 550.000 Katholiken sind, zu den wichtigsten Kirchsprengeln des Landes. In einem Gespräch mit Fides berichtete der neugewählte Kardinal von seinem persönlichen Engagement, der Situation seiner Diözese und den Perspektiven der Kirche in Indien. Es folgt der Wortlaut des Interviews.
Erzbischof Dias, was bedeutet für Sie die Ernennung zum Kardinal?
Diese Erhebung in die Kardinalswürde bestärkt mich in meinen Vorsätzen: es ist ein neues Kapitel meines Priesteramtes, das die Grundlage aller anderen Titel und Ehren darstellt. Sie fügen dem nicht sehr viel zu, doch sie führen zu mehr Engagement im pastoralen Dienst, zu dem uns der Herr berufen hat.
Wie sieht die Situation der katholischen Gemeinschaft in Ihrer Erzdiözese aus?
Bombay ist die größte Diözese Indiens. Wir haben viele eifrige und engagierte Laien. Die größte Herausforderung liegt in der Vertiefung des Glaubens entsprechend der Richtlinien des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils. Ausserdem haben wir soeben die Synode in unserer Erzdiözese gefeiert: wir müssen weiterhin auf die wichtige Rolle der Laien in der Mission der Kirche bestehen. Dies wird für mich persönlich und für die ganze Diözese eine vorrangige Aufgabe sein.
Auf welche Schwierigkeiten stoßen Sie?
Auf die größten Schwierigkeiten stoßen die Gläubigen bei der Verkündigung des Evangeliums unter ihren Mitmenschen. Weit verbreitet ist die Praxis der Anbetung: in 75 der insgesamt 114 Pfarreien der Erzdiözese findet jeden Tag die eucharistische Anbetung statt, an der zahlreiche Gläubige teilnehmen und auch die täglichen Gottesdienste sind gut besucht. Doch es bedarf des größeren Engagements bei der Evangelisierung. Es gibt viele Verbände und soziale Einrichtungen, doch der Schritt hin zum Nächsten und das Umarmen der Armen, wie dies Mutter Teresa tat, muss für alle Christen zur Normalität werden.
Wie beurteilen Sie die Perspektiven der Kirche in Indien?
Meiner Ansicht nach ist die Zukunft der Kirche in Indien glänzend. Auch der Heilige Vater betonte dies bei seinem Besuch vor zwei Jahren: im dritten Jahrtausend wird die Kirche in Indien zu den Hauptakteuren gehören und die indische Kirche nimmt in der asiatischen Kirche einen besonderen Platz ein. Ich betrachte die Verfolgungen als etwas Natürliches: die Kirche war immer davon betroffen, insbesondere in Zeiten der großen Blüte. Die heutigen Misshandlungen sind Vorboten einer zukünftigen Blütezeit. Die Berichte von fortwährender Gewalt gegenüber Christen erschüttern mich nicht: ich bin mir sicher, dass der Herr etwas Gutes daraus machen wird.
Sie hat das Antlitz Jesu sichtbar werden lassen“
Apr 05, 2005
So faßt der indische Kardinal Ivan Dias das Werk Mutter Teresas zusammen. Der Erzbischof von Bombay äußert sich auch zur katholischen Kirche in Indien, der Beziehung zum Staat und zu den anderen Religionen.
(30TAGE, Oktober 2003)„Die Mission im Pontifikat von Papst Johannes Paul II.“ So lautet der Titel des Berichts, den der 67jährige Ivan Dias, Kardinalerzbischof von Bombay, am Samstag, dem 18. Oktober, am Ende der Tagung zu Ehren des Papstes halten wird. Indien ist Missionsgebiet, das war es für Mutter Teresa – die Dias als Nuntius in Albanien kennengelernt hat –, und das ist es in der ureigenen Art der indischen Kirche (gerade zurück vom ad-limina-Besuch), die Dias so beschreibt: große Geduld, Öffnung, Freiheit.
Lebendiges, etwas, das noch heute Gültigkeit besitzt und das alle Inder verstehen, die zu überwältigender Mehrheit Nicht-Christen sind: Hindus, Muslime, Buddhisten, Sikhs... Die Zahl der Christen in Indien beläuft sich auf 23 Millionen, 2,3% einer mehr als eine Milliarde zählenden Bevölkerung; die Katholiken machen 1,8% aus. Was nun uns, das Volk Gottes, angeht, betrachten viele von uns, tief in ihrem Herzen, Mutter Teresa als Heilige, die das Antlitz Jesu sichtbar werden ließ. Diese Frau, die angesichts hoffnungsloser und schwieriger Situationen keinen Hehl daraus machte, daß sie sich ihnen nur deswegen stellen konnte, weil sie in diesen Armen Jesus sah, in ihrem Herzen stets die Worte des Evangeliums widerhallten: „Was ihr für einen meiner geringsten Brüder getan habt, das habt ihr mir getan.“ Es ist also kein Wunder, daß sie die Regierung mit einem Staatsbegräbnis ehren wollte: ein Ehrerweis, der, institutionelle Persönlichkeiten ausgenommen, seit der Unabhängigkeit Indiens nur Mahatma Gandhi zuteil wurde.
Ich hoffe sehr, daß dieses bewundernswerte Zeugnis Mutter Teresas immer mehr Nachahmung findet. In Bombay sind die Missionarinnen der Nächstenliebe beispielsweise bereits vertreten, ebenso wie die Ordensbrüder des männlichen Zweiges der von ihr gegründeten Kongregation. Seit einiger Zeit sehe ich aber auch Laien, die, ihr Beispiel nachahmend, den Schwestern und Brüdern auf der Straße folgen und sich unserer Armen annehmen. Und das beeindruckt alle, Christen und Nicht-Christen, gleichermaßen.
Der indische Episkopat stattete vor kurzem seinen ad-limina-Besuch ab. Wie haben Sie sich auf die Begegnung mit dem Papst vorbereitet?
Cardinal Dias: Es lief alles normal ab, würde ich sagen. Jeder Bischof hat einen Bericht für die zuständige Kongregation für die Evangelisierung der Völker vorbereitet. Die ad-limina-Besuche werden auf regionaler Basis programmiert: wir in Bombay gehören zu Westindien, der Western Region. Die ersten, die den Papst besuchten, waren die syro-malabarischen und syro-malancarischen Bischöfe, die den beiden anderen katholischen Riten angehören, die es in Indien gibt. Dann waren die Lateiner an der Reihe. Jede Region in Indien hat ihre Besonderheiten, und der Papst weiß das. Mit uns, von der Western Region, hat er sich auch allgemein über Indien unterhalten.
Zu welchem Thema?
Cardinal Dias:Er kritisierte das Verhalten der fundamentalistischen Hindus, die das Leben der Kirche behindern. Der Papst bezog sich auf die fünf indischen Staaten, wo es Gesetze gibt, die die sogenannten „Zwangskonversionen“ verbieten. Wenn es dabei keine Hintergedanken gäbe, müßte sich die katholische Kirche auch keine Sorgen machen. Aber leider werden diese Gesetze von einigen Regierungsbeamten manchmal willkürlich angewandt – trotz der vielen Versicherungen seitens der lokalen Regierungen und der Zentralregierung, daß man keineswegs gegen die Katholiken vorgehen will und daß diese Gesetze nur Splittergruppen und Sekten beträfe, die – wie sie sagen – dazu übergegangen sind, die Leute zu „kaufen“. Wer sich diese zweideutigen Normen ausgedacht hat, weiß jedoch, daß unser Glaube keine intellektuelle Wahl ist, daß man „konvertieren“ kann, wenn man beispielsweise Zeuge eines guten Werkes geworden, den ein oder anderen Nutzen daraus gezogen hat... aus einem praktischen Grund also. Aber das wird von übel Gesinnten als eine Art „Ködern“ angesehen, und setzt die Strenge des Gesetzes in Gang.
Und wenn auch in fünf indischen Staaten Normen herrschen, die die Freiheit der Christen einschränken, bin ich doch der Meinung, daß das kein unüberwindliches Hindernis darstellt. Wenn jemand beispielsweise öffentlich getauft werden will, kann er das im Nachbarstaat tun, und noch am selben Tag wieder nach Hause zurückkehren. Das tägliche Leben ist letztendlich, auch in einem Hindu-Staat, sehr viel einfacher, als man meint. Bei den Christen gibt es einen Dialog über den geteilten Glauben. Und mit dem einfachen Volk, jeder beliebigen Religion, gibt es den wunderschönen Dialog des Alltags.
Können Sie sich dieses Verhalten einiger Regierungsbeamten erklären? Cardinal Dias:Wir glauben, daß die Ursache für die unerbittliche Haltung einiger Hindus der Kirche gegenüber in deren Vorstellung vom Kastenwesen liegt, das keine Ausnahmen für die Hierarchie erlaubt, die vom Brahmanen bis zum dalit geht, zum Kastenlosen. Wenn ein Mensch zum Christentum konvertiert, würde er keiner Kaste mehr angehören, und ein Kastenloser hätte dieselben Rechte wie der angesehenste Brahmane! Das zu verhindern, ist Sinn und Zweck derer, die aus Indien einen Hindu-Staat machen wollen, der dem muslimischen Pakistan gegenübersteht, und so auf die Konsolidierung des Kastenwesens abzielen. Der Papst hat sich gegen dieses Zwangskonversions-Gesetz ausgesprochen, weil es die Menschenrechte verletzt. Es wurde auch von gewissen indischen Politikern verurteilt, was unsere Bischofskonferenz positiv aufgenommen hat.
Es gibt auch eine Diskriminierung der adivasis, der Ureinwohner des Landes. Die kürzlich erfolgte Erhebung eines adivasi in den Kardinalsrang, Msgr. Telesphore Toppo, Erzbischof von Ranchi, ist ein unleugbares Zeichen dafür, daß die Kirche alle Menschen gleichermaßen als Kinder Gottes betrachtet.
Wie kann man Christ sein, ohne das Kastenwesen revolutionieren zu wollen?
Cardinal Dias:Man muß ehrlich sagen, daß die Zahl der der Kirche feindlich gegenüberstehenden Hindus deutlich zurückgegangen ist, auch wenn einige davon heute in der Regierung sitzen. Diese Feindseligkeit wird jedoch nicht vom gemeinen Volk geteilt, weil der Hinduismus als solcher die anderen Religionen erlaubt, und man in unserem Alltag durchaus von einem harmonischen Zusammenleben sprechen kann: auch weil die Hindus sehen, daß die christlichen Werke allen offen stehen, ohne irgendwelche Unterschiede zwischen Kasten, Gesellschaftsschichten oder Glaubensformen zu machen.
Vor vier Jahren verbrannten fundamentalistische Hindus einen protestantischen australianischen Missionar und seine zwei Söhne bei lebendigem Leib, weil sich dieser um Lepra-Kranke kümmerte. Als Vorwand gaben sie an, daß er Konversionen bewirkte und widerrechtlich denen half, die, nach dem hinduistischen Glauben an die Reinkarnation (karma), mit der Krankheit ihre in einem vorherigen Leben begangenen Sünden abbüßten. Die Christen dagegen sind, wie der Barmherzige Samariter, die Freunde aller; fast ein Drittel aller Hilfswerke für Arme, Waisen, Lepra- oder Aids-Kranke in Indien ist das Werk von Christen. Mutter Teresa sah und liebte Jesus in den Armen, denen sie zu Hilfe eilte, in den Lepra-Kranken, und allein aus diesem Grund fand sie den Mut, diese verwesenden Leiber zu umarmen.
Wovon ist – von Ihrer Diözese ausgehend – der Alltag geprägt?
Cardinal Dias:Mit den Bischöfen der Region kommen wir zweimal im Jahr zusammen, einmal versammelt sich die gesamte lateinische Bischofskonferenz, und alle zwei Jahre treffen wir alle uns auch mit den Malabaren und Malancaren. Wir tauschen brüderlich Informationen und Erfahrungen aus, auch um uns gegenseitig zu helfen. Unsere Oberen in Rom werden ständig darüber informiert, was unsere Kirche für die Formation unserer Jugendlichen tut, für die Kranken und für die indische Gesellschaft im allgemeinen.Wir haben keine großen Probleme. Es gibt einige indische Staaten, Gujarat beispielsweise, wo sich der Einfluß extremer Faktionen spürbar macht: im allgemeinen sind die christlichen Werke aber nicht in Gefahr, wenn einzelne Missionare auch mißhandelt worden sind. Vor zwei Jahren wurde Gujarat von einem schweren Erdbeben erschüttert, und erst vor kurzem kam es zu Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Hindus und Muslimen. Vor fünf Jahren hatten die hinduistischen Faktionen die Christen im Visier, jetzt dagegen die Muslime, und wir Christen versuchen, die erhitzten Gemüter zu beschwichtigen. Die katholische Kirche wird oft gebeten, als Friedensstifter zu fungieren, und sie zieht sich nie aus der Affäre. Wir greifen auch den Opfern von Naturkatastrophen unter die Arme. Die Diözese Bombay hat nach dem Erdbeben in Gujarat eine Spendenaktion für obdachlose Familien durchgeführt. Es ist alles gutgegangen, und die Caritas hat uns mit dem Bau von tausend Wohnhäusern betraut...
Ein wunderschönes Geschenk, das wir der Kirche anzubieten haben, sind die zahlreichen Berufungen. In Indien gibt es ca. 70.000 Priester und 100.000 Ordensschwestern bei 18 Millionen Katholiken, und das ist die wohl höchste Zahl in ganz Asien.
Kommen wir wieder auf die Begegnungen in Rom zu sprechen.
Cardinal Dias:Bei unserem Besuch in der Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre kamen wir auf jene indischen Theologen zu sprechen, die Schwierigkeiten bei der Erklärung unseres Glaubens an Jesus, den einzigen Retter aller Menschen, haben. Das Thema war bei dem apostolischen Besuch der Seminare bereits von der Kongregation für das katholische Bildungswesen besprochen worden. Mit dem Päpstlichen Rat für den interreligiösen Dialog konnte es zu einer brüderlichen Zusammenarbeit kommen, wie auch mit der Kongregation für den Gottesdienst und die Sakramentenordnung. Viele Fragen, die uns am Herzen liegen, beschäftigen auch die Kongregation für die Evangelisierung der Völker. Und schließlich kam es auch zu einer Begegnung mit dem Papst, der uns alle mit seinem großen Interesse für die Probleme unserer Diözesen und der Erinnerung an viele Menschen beeindruckte, denen er bei seinen Reisen in unsere Diözesen begegnet war und an Stätten, die er dort besucht hatte. In Rom gibt es die universale Kirche, und der Papst ist seinem Auftrag treu, „die Brüder im Glauben zu stärken.“
Welches Thema tauchte bei all Ihren Dialogen mit den römischen Dikasterien auf?
Cardinal Dias:Die Inkulturation. Indien ist ein wahres Mosaik von Kulturen. Man kann nicht sagen, daß es eine dominierende indische Kultur gibt. Das indische Volk ist außerdem schon von sich aus tief religiös. Jesus ist nicht gekommen, um abzuschaffen, sagen wir den Menschen, die angesichts der Herausforderung des Christentums um die Zukunft ihres traditionellen Glaubens fürchten, sondern um die Erfüllung zu bringen. Bei uns kann man nur mit Geduld für Jesus Zeugnis ablegen: in Indien muß die Kirche viele Hindernisse überwinden, wie das Kastenwesen, die Korruption, das Zusammenleben der verschiedenen religiösen Gemeinschaften. Weil es nicht eine einzige indische Kultur, sondern viele Kulturen gibt, liegt viel in der Hand der Ortsbischöfe. So werden beispielsweise in ganz Indien im Zentralstaat mehr als zweihundert Sprachen gesprochen, und wer beherrscht sie alle? Allein in Bombay sind es mindestens sechs. Wenn also ein liturgischer Text übersetzt wird, liegt die Verantwortung beim Ortsbischof, dem wir unser Vertrauen schenken müssen. Wir lassen Rom dann wissen, daß ein Text übersetzt worden ist, und wir stellen nicht den Anspruch, die recognitio bedeute, daß dieser Text vollkommen ist. In der Zukunft wird – auf Ansuchen des zuständigen römischen Dikasteriums – ein Mitglied der nationalen Bischofskonferenz, das die Sprache de quo beherrscht, in der Kommission für die Anerkennung sitzen.
Sie haben gesagt, daß die indische Kirche Zeugnis ablegt für eine große Geduld.
Cardinal Dias:Und eine große Öffnung, die typisch ist für den indischen Geist: und das ist auch der Grund, warum der „Normalverbraucher“, in Neu-Delhi wie auch in Bombay weiß, daß der Extremist ein Ausländer ist, jemand, der nicht der Kultur unseres Volkes angehört. In Bombay gibt es ein katholisches Marienheiligtum, das – und das ist nicht der einzige Fall – auch von Hindus aufgesucht wird, von Sikhs... Jeden Mittwoch kommen ca. 70.000 Menschen dorthin, um den Beistand der Muttergottes zu erflehen; die meisten sind Nicht-Katholiken. Und die Muttergottes schenkt allen ihre Gunst, gewährt allen ihre Gnaden, ist eine wirkliche Mutter. Unser Dialog ist ein Dialog des praktischen Lebens. Am 8. September, Mariä Geburt, versammeln sich in manchen katholischen Marienheiligtümern zwei bis drei Millionen Menschen, um die Muttergottes zu feiern. Es sind Tage der Freude. Aber auch Hindus statten der Muttergottes zu ihrem Festtag ihren Besuch ab. Maria ist für sie etwas Besonderes: „In unserer Religion gibt es weibliche Götter, ihr dagegen habt diese Frau mit dem Kind im Arm, eine Mutter...,“ sagen sie. So hat dann der eine oder andere von uns Gelegenheit, ihnen unseren Glauben zu erklären: daß diese Frau da ist wegen dem Kind. Und wer ist das Kind? Jesus.
Wie steht die indische Kirche zum Petrusprimat?
Cardinal Dias:Alle römisch-lateinischen, syro-malabarischen und syro-malancarischen Kirchen sind mit Rom vereint, akzeptieren den Papst und seinen Primat. Andere, wenngleich sie der apostolischen Tradition treubleiben, stehen nicht in voller Gemeinschaft mit dem Apostolischen Sitz von Rom. Eine syro-malancarische Gemeinschaft ist vor kurzem mit dem Patriarchen von Antiochia zusammengetroffen, zu dem sie schon lange Beziehungen unterhielt. Wir sind offen und verbrüdern uns mit allen, ganz gleich, wie sie zu Rom stehen mögen, hier in Bombay haben wir keine Ökumenismus-Probleme. Im Gegenteil: zusammen mit fünf anderen, nicht-katholischen Gemeinschaften arbeiten wir für die Barmherzigkeit an den Toten: der Staat hat gemeinsame Begräbnisstätten für die Bestattung von Christen zur Verfügung gestellt, und die fünf christlichen Konfessionen haben zusammen einen trust gegründet, mit dem alle Ausgaben gedeckt werden können. Wir verstehen uns mit diesen christlichen Brüdern und Schwestern so gut, daß es ein Vergnügen ist, zusammenzuarbeiten, einen derart praktischen Dialog führen zu können. Theologisch gesprochen, gibt es unter ihnen den ein oder anderen, der den Papst nicht akzeptiert, einige Realitäten des Glaubens und der Moral nicht mit uns teilt, in der Praxis leben wir jedoch in brüderlicher Eintracht .
Was nun im besonderen uns Katholiken betrifft, ist zu sagen: der Papst ist der Papst, und die Kurie hat ein offenes Ohr für uns gezeigt. Wir kennen einander gut, wir und Rom, haben einen Respekt voreinander, der uns beiden Ehre macht, und in Rom weiß man nur allzu gut, daß es der Ortsbischof ist, der heiligmäßig seine Kirche leitet. So gesehen ist der ad-limina-Besuch die Begegnung zwischen universaler Kirche und Ortskirche, die bereits die universale repräsentiert und enthält: eine Übung der Katholizität.
Gibt es in den Beziehungen zwischen Staat und Kirche in Indien irgenwelche Anomalitäten?
Cardinal Dias:Nein. Lediglich das ein oder andere Mißverständnis, das auf den Umstand zurückzuführen ist, daß in der Zentralregierung, wie bereits gesagt, einige Repräsentanten des extremistischen Flügels vertreten sind. Aber das sind Fragen, die in den Zuständigkeitsbereich der Nuntiatur und der nationalen Bischofskonferenz in Neu-Delhi fallen, nicht in den des einzelnen Bischofs... Ich möchte hier nur kurz auf die Verweigerung von Visas für die Missionare verweisen, die vom Problem der Proselytenmacherei motiviert ist.
Indien wird heute international eine größere politische Rolle zugestanden, die die Regierung in Neu Delhi oft zugunsten des Multilateralismus handhabt. Hilft der Kirche diese für den Staat günstige Situation?
Cardinal Dias:Als Bischof sehe ich, daß die wirtschaftliche Welle der Globalisierung, von der sich Indien hat mitreißen lassen, die Mentalität meines Volkes vergiftet, seine täglichen spirituellen Bezugspunkte auslöscht, und das schmerzt mich sehr. Ich kann mich noch erinnern, als ich Ende 1983/Anfang 1984 beim Heiligen Vater in Audienz war. Damals erwartete man sich das Ende des Kommunismus und meinte, das bedeute den sofortigen Anbruch einer neuen Ära. Der Papst sagte mir, daß die Kapitulation des Kommunismus, bzw. des theoretischen Atheismus, notwendig, aber nicht ausreichend wäre, und daß man vor der Errichtung einer Zivilisation der Liebe auch den Kapitalismus besiegen müsse, also den praktischen Atheismus. Diese Anschauung des Papstes war alles andere als utopisch, sie war realistisch: er wollte Johannes XXIII. folgen, in dessen Wunsch, einen neuen Frühling der Kirche zu erleben, und Paul VI., der den Anbruch einer Zivilisation der Liebe erwartete.
Beide Päpste, ein kurzes und ein längeres Pontifikat, sind bis heute in der Vorstellung der Kirche überaus präsent, die sie mit der Jahreszeit des II. Vatikanischen Konzils identifiziert. Und um einen Frühling zu erleben, muß man nur darauf warten, daß das Gefäß vom Herrn zerschlagen und wieder neu geformt wird.
Sie werden zur Festwoche des 25. Jahrestages der Wahl Johannes Pauls II. nach Rom kommen.
Cardinal Dias:Der Papst hat uns ein wunderschönes Zeugnis dafür gegeben, was es heißt, den Glauben Petri und das Herz Paulus’ zu haben. Wenn man von Rom spricht, spricht man vom Glauben Petri, der auf dem Fels errichteten Festung, der Flut und Sturm nichts anhaben können. Und wie Paulus der allen alles war, hat der Papst die ganze Welt bereist als Bote der Guten Nachricht Jesu Christi und Verteidiger der Rechte des Menschen und seiner unveräußerlichen Würde. Papst Johannes Paul II. ist ein wirklicher Papst, und hat die Zeit gehabt, sein Werk zu festigen.
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