Bernardin Cardinal Gantin was born in 1922 in Toffo, in the West African nation of Benin. He was ordained a Priest for the Catholic Diocese of Ouidah (now Catholic Archdiocese of Cotonou) in 1951; and from 1953 he studied at the Pontifical Urbaniana and Lateran Universities. In the latter he graduated in Theology and Canon Law.
In 1960 he was appointed Archbishop of Cotonou. As president of the Episcopal Conference of Benin, he participated in the three sessions of the Second Vatican Council and in the first world assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 1967.
In 1971 he was appointed Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. In 1976 he became president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He was created a cardinal by Pope St. Paul VI in 1977.
In 1984, Pope St. John Paul II appointed him Prefect of the Congregation – now Dicastery – for Bishops, the first and only African to date to have held that position. In 1988 he signed the decree of excommunication of French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the four bishops he ordained without the authorization of the Pontiff.
That same year, Cardinal Gantin was appointed President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In 1993 he was elected Dean of the College of Cardinals.
In 2002 and at the age of 80, when he ceased to be Cardinal Elector, he resigned from the position of dean and returned to his native country of Benin. He passed on in 2008 in Paris; he was laid to rest in Ouidah (Benin).
On 23 May 2008, Pope Benedict XVI presided at the funeral Mass of Cardinal Gantin in St. Peter's Basilica, where he recalled that the late Cardinal "was the first African ecclesiastic to hold positions of great responsibility in the Roman Curia, and he always carried them out in his typical humble and simple style."
Cardinal Gantin, Benedict XVI said in his homily, "was imbued with love for Christ; a love that made him kind and available to listen and dialogue with everyone; a love that impelled him to always seek, as he used to repeat, the essentials of life."
ACI Africa has translated and adapted ACI Prensa’s version of this story that was published on 31 January 2025
Walter Sánchez Silva is a senior writer for ACI Prensa (https://www.aciprensa.com). With more than 15 years of experience, he has reported from important ecclesial events in Europe, Asia and Latin America during the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. E-mail: walter@aciprensa.com
