Ivan Cardinal Dias

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Ivan Dias during the Christmas mass in 2005.
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Ivan Dias during the Christmas mass in 2005.

His Eminence Ivan Cardinal Dias (born 1936-04-14 in Mumbai, India) is a Roman Catholic cardinal and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Ordained a priest in 1958 in Mumbai, Dias was appointed to the Secretariat of State in the Roman Curia in 1964. He served at the Secretariat's Eastern Europe office for nine years before being sent to the Apostolic Nunciatures (embassies) in Scandinavia, Indonesia and Madagascar. Dias then transferred to the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church.

Styles of
Ivan Cardinal Dias
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal
See Bombay (Emeritus)

Dias returned to the Secretariat of State in 1982, when he was appointed pro-nuncio to Ghana, Benin, and Togo, and consecrated as a titular archbishop. In 1987, he was appointed papal nuncio to South Korea. In 1991, Dias was appointed nuncio to Albania, where he helped rebuild the Catholic Church after the end of Communism. Dias stayed in Albania until early 1997.

Dias was appointed Archbishop of Bombay on 1996-11-08, and made the Cardinal Priest of Spirito Santo alla Ferratella by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 2001-02-21.

On 20 May 2006 he was appointed as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples was announced. As prefect, he is ex officio the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urbaniana University.

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In 2004, Cardinal Dias was alleged to have close associations with the Opus Dei, which was vehemently denied by the Church.

Cardinal Dias, who speaks at least 12 languages, was one of the Cardinals considered papabile at the 2005 Papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

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