Ivan Dias

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Ivan Dias during the Christmas mass in 2005.

Ivan Cardinal Dias (born 14 April 1936 in Bombay, 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.

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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 8 November 1996, and made the Cardinal Priest of Spirito Santo alla Ferratella by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 2001. In 2004, Cardinal Dias was alleged to have close associations with Opus Dei. 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.

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

Cardinal Dias in addition to his duties as Prefect is a member of various offices of the Curia. In May 2008 Pope Benedict named Cardinal Dias as a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.

Preceded by Simon Cardinal Pimenta	Archbishop of Bombay 8 November 1996–20 May 2006	Succeeded by Oswald Gracias
Preceded by Crescenzio Cardinal Sepe	Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples 20 May 2006–incumbent	Succeeded by incumbent