Ivan Cardinal Dias, the present Archbishop of Bombay was marked out
for higher things already when he joined St Pius X College, Mumbai, for
ecclesiastical studies.
No sooner he completed his studies, in Humanities, Phylosophy and Theology,
he was picked by the then Archbishop of Bombay, Valerian Cardinal Gracias
for studies in Canon Law in Rome.
He had a stint as Assistant Secretary, while I was Secretary to the
Cardinal at Archbishop's House, Bombay. Thus, I had occasion to be closely
associated with him and to strike up a close friendship. The purpose of the
Cardinal sending him for studies in Canon Law was to prepare him to enter
the Diplomatic School of the Church in Rome. Having come out with flying
colours in Canon Law, he was asked to continue his studies in the
Diplomatic School. Having graduated from there, he had to work for a time
in the Secretariate of the Holy See.
After his preliminary training, he was posted as Secretary to the Apostolic
Delegate in Denmark. There he picked up Danish. The Danes were pleasantly
surprised to hear him speak their language. Later he was posted to
Indonesia as Secretary to the Apostolic Delegate, where he picked
Indonesian. Then he was brought back to Rome for further training in the
Secretariate in Rome. It was then that I had occasion to continue our
friendship, as I had to attend meetings of Caritas Internationalis, of
which I was Vice-President for Asia and Oceania.
Whilst he worked at the Secretariat, he had special care of the Communist
countries. This brought him in touch with the Archbishop of Krakow, who was
elected in 1978 as Pope John Paul II. Thus explains the close relationship
with the late Pope and Mgr Ivan Dias.
Having completed his stint at the Secretariate, he was ordained Archbishop
of Rusubisic on 19 January, 1982 and posted as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to
Ghana, Togo and Benin till 1987.
From 1987 till 1991, he was Pro-Nuncio to South Korea and from 1991 till
1997 he was Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Albania, which is largely a Muslim
country. Archbishop Ivan Dias had the task of building the Church in
Albania and he consecrated the first Bishop in that country.
Pope John Paul II visited Albania and was pleased with the growth of the
Church.
Subsequently, as the See of Bombay fell vacant with the retirement of Simon
Cardinal Pimenta, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop
Ivan Dias to his parent archdiocese of Bombay on 22 January, 1997.
In addition, he had been appointed as a member to several congregations,
which explains his many visits to Rome.
He is a linguist, and has a flair for languages. Besides, Italian, Spanish,
French and Portuguese, he is reputed to speak in more than 15 languages. In
Mumbai he says Mass in Korean for the people of Korea.
Ivan Cardinal Dias was born on 14 April, 1936. Been born in Bombay, he
studied at St Stanislaus High School, Bandra.
After joining St Pius X College in Bombay, he spent his holidays regularly
in Velsao, Goa, to be with his old aunt.
http://campussocial.ulusofona.pt/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Goa-Research-Net
-------------------------------------------------------------------
* Send us a brief self-intro to justify your interest in this
"specialized" forum. This should be sent to
teodesouza@... or to
fred@...
* Send email to
majordomo@... (NOT
goa-research-net@...)
* Leave SUBJECT blank
* On first line of the BODY of your message, type:
subscribe goa-research-net
YOUR@...
or
unsubscribe goa-research-net
YOUR@...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Send Email