Indian Catholic prelate (1936?2017)
Ivan Cornelius Dias
(14 April 1936 ? 19 June 2017) was an Indian prelate and
cardinal
of the
Catholic Church
. He was Prefect of the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
from 2006 to 2011, Archbishop of
Bombay
from 1996 to 2006, and before that a
papal ambassador
in the
Balkans
,
East Asia
, and
West Africa
. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2001.
[1]
Biography
[
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]
Early life and ordination
[
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]
Ivan Dias was born in
Bandra
, a suburb of
Bombay
, to Carlos Nazaro Dias (d. 1953) and Maria Martins e Dias (d. 1991), both natives of
Goa
. Dias' ancestral village is Velsao,
Salcete
, Goa. His father was
undersecretary
of the Home Department of the
government of Maharashtra
.
[2]
The second oldest of five children, he has four brothers:
Francis
(a retired
lieutenant general
in the
Indian military
), Ralph, Paul and Olaf (a doctor). After graduating from the
Jesuit
St. Stanislaus High School
, he entered the
seminary
of the
Archdiocese of Bombay
and was later
ordained
to the
priesthood
by
Valerian Gracias
on 8 December 1958.
[3]
He then did pastoral work in Bombay as
curate
at St. Stephen's Church until 1961, when he was sent to Rome to further his studies. He there attended the
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy
and the
Pontifical Lateran University
, from where he obtained a
doctorate in canon law
in 1964.
[4]
Secretariat of State
[
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]
Dias worked in the
Vatican Secretariat of State
preparing the 1964 visit of
Pope Paul VI
to India, during which he was raised to the rank of
Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness
on 4 December.
[4]
From 1965 to 1973, he served as secretary of the
nunciatures
in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Indonesia, Madagascar,
Reunion
, the
Comoro Islands
and Mauritius. Returning to the Secretariat of State in Vatican City, he was head of the section for the
Soviet Union
, the
Baltic states
, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania until 1981.
[4]
Nuncio and bishop
[
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]
On 8 May 1981, Dias was appointed
Titular Archbishop
of
Rusibisir
and
Apostolic Pro-Nuncio
to Ghana, Togo and Benin by
Pope John Paul II
. He received his
episcopal
consecration
on the following 19 June from Cardinal
Agostino Casaroli
, with Archbishops
Achille Silvestrini
and
Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy
serving as
co-consecrators
, at
St. Peter's Basilica
.
[3]
He selected as his episcopal
motto
:
"Servus"
(
Latin
: "Servant").
[5]
Dias was later named Apostolic Nuncio to
Korea
on 20 June 1986, and
Apostolic Nuncio to Albania
on 28 October 1991. In Albania, he was charged with rebuilding the
local church
after nearly five decades of communist
rule
, inviting foreign
missionaries
to the country and working with the
Albanian government
to recover Catholic churches and
schools
.
[6]
Archbishop
[
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]
Recalled from the Vatican's diplomatic service, Dias was appointed the ninth
Archbishop of Bombay
on 8 November 1996.
[7]
He was an outspoken supporter of the controversial 2000 document of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Dominus Iesus
, which declared that non-Catholics "are in a
gravely deficient situation
in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation."
[8]
Dias said the document was "a reaffirmation...[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."
[6]
Cardinal
[
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]
John Paul II
appointed him
Cardinal-Priest
of
Spirito Santo alla Ferratella
in the
consistory
of 21 February 2001.
[4]
He was shortly afterwards named to the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See on 10 March 2001, and served as one of the three presidents at the 10th Ordinary Assembly of the
World Synod of Bishops
from September to October 2001.
[4]
In 2003, he delivered the
homily
at the
beatification
Mass
of
Mother Teresa
, whom Dias had befriended during his tenure as a nuncio in Albania; he once said, "Reaching out to our fellow human beings, embracing the poor as Mother Teresa did, must become a common service for every Christian."
[5]
Lamenting the domination of the world "by information technology, by
New Age
teaching and by the decline of ethical values," Dias once stated that entire countries are being "crushed down by
godless
ideologies and enticing proposals that exalt the anti-God cultures, including the
culture of death
."
[6]
He was one of the Cardinals considered
papabile
at the
2005 Papal conclave
that selected
Pope Benedict XVI
.
TIME
Magazine
noted his "[s]trong diplomatic experience" and said his election "would represent a bold choice from the developing world."
[9]
On 20 May 2006, he was appointed
Prefect
of the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
, the top post overseeing the
Catholic missions
. He was also
ex officio
the
Grand Chancellor
of the
Pontifical Urbaniana University
. He presented his resignation as required on reaching the age of 75. It was accepted on 10 May 2011 when he was succeeded as Prefect by
Fernando Filoni
.
[10]
Cardinal Dias was a member of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
, the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
, the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches
, the
Congregation for Catholic Education
, the
Pontifical Council for Culture
, the
Pontifical Council for the Laity
, the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
, the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
, the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications
, the
Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church
and the
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
.
[
citation needed
]
Dias was one of the
cardinal electors
who participated in the
2013 papal conclave
that selected
Pope Francis
.
[11]
Dias died in Rome on 19 June 2017.
[12]
[13]
Views
[
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]
Anti-Christian violence
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During his tenure as Archbishop, Dias frequently condemned
anti-Christian discrimination
in Indian society by
Hindu fundamentalists
. In December 2001, he invited leaders of all Bombay's religious communities to his home for "a meeting for peace in a world torn apart by war and hatred."
[6]
In 2002, he denounced pressures put by Indian authorities on Catholic schools, which have "had to put up with uncooperative and abusive public officials as well intimidation."
Abortion and homosexuality
[
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]
Dias also established himself as
theologically conservative
, strongly maintaining the Church's stances against abortion and homosexuality.
[14]
[15]
He believed that gays and lesbians could be "
cured
" of their "unnatural tendencies" through the
Sacrament of Penance
.
[6]
Anglican communion
[
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]
During a speech he gave at the
Lambeth Conference
, he expressed unrestrained disapproval of the changes the Anglican communion was experiencing. He said: "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. [...] or ecclesial Parkinson's".
[16]
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Ivan Dias
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