"An eminent child of Benin and Africa, esteemed by everyone, enlivened by a deeply apostolic spirit and a high sense of the Church and its mission in the world". With these words, the Pope, in a telegram of condolence to mgr. Marcel Honrat Léon Agboton, archbishop of Cotonou, defines card. Bernardin Gantin, who died yesterday, in Paris, aged 86. A native of Benin, for 30 years the cardinal had served the Holy See, the first African cardinal to be put at the head of a Vatican ministry. In his telegram, after expressing his "fervent sympathy in prayer" with the bishops and devotees of Benin, with "the family of the deceased and the people affected by such loss", Benedict XVI thanks the Lord "for his fecund ministry, first as the archbishop of Cotonou, then during his many years at the Holy See, which he served with generous loyalty, especially at the Congregation of the Bishops and as a member of the College of Cardinals, of which he has been an esteemed dean". The prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops since 1984, on June 5th card. Gantin was appointed dean of the College of Cardinals, while in 1998, having reached the age limit at 75, he resigned from his position as a prefect. With Joseph Ratzinger, he was the other cardinal ordained by Paul VI in June 1977. In 1956, aged 34, he became one of the youngest bishops in the world.
