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.
In curial shift, pope names Indian cardinal as evangelization congregation head