Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
23 May 2008
Vatican — Mass was celebrated at the Vatican on Friday for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, who died on 13 May at the age of 86.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, and other members of the college celebrated the mass.
In a homily at St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the figure of the late prelate, former dean of the College of Cardinals, who "to the end dedicated himself with affable willingness to the service of God and his fellows."
The Holy Father spoke of the character of the cardinal as "a marvellous blend of the characteristics of the African soul with those of the Christian spirit, of African culture and identify with evangelical values. He was the first African prelate to occupy roles of great responsibility in the Roman Curia".
Benedict then went on to speak of the experiences he had shared with Cardinal Gantin "which enabled me to gain ever greater appreciation of his prudent wisdom, as well as his solid faith and sincere adherence to Christ and to His Vicar on earth, the Pope. Fifty-seven years of priesthood, 51 years of episcopate and 31 as cardinal: this is the summary of a life spent for the Church".
The Pope enumerated the various stages of the cardinal's life: his priestly ordination in 1951; his consecration as bishop in 1957 at the age of just 34; the period he spent as archbishop of Cotonou, capital of Benin, when he was the first metropolitan of Africa.
In 1971, called by Pope Paul VI, he went to Rome as adjunct secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. A few years later he became secretary of that Congregation and, in 1976, also became president of the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace". Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1977, and in 1984 John Paul II appointed him as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
"This friend and brother of ours to whom we today pay homage", said Benedict, "was permeated with love for Christ ... which made him affable and ready to listen and talk to everyone". Christ's love "encouraged him to look, as he used to say, always to the essentials of the life that lasts, without losing himself in the side issues which quickly pass". It "made him see his role in the various offices of the Curia as a service devoid of human ambitions".
At the centre of Cardinal Gantin's pastoral ministry was a constant love for the Eucharist. "And it was in this very basilica, celebrating his last mass before leaving Rome, that he highlighted the unity the Eucharist creates in the Church. In his homily he quoted the famous phrase of the African bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage: 'From here the one faith shines out through the world; from here arises the unity of the priesthood'."
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