15 Facts About Ivan Dias

Ivan Cornelius Dias was an Indian prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church.

Ivan Dias 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.

Ivan Dias was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2001.

Ivan Dias's father was undersecretary of the Home Department of the government of Maharashtra.

Ivan Dias 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.

Ivan Dias there attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and the Pontifical Lateran University, from where he obtained a doctorate in canon law in 1964.

On 8 May 1981, Ivan Dias was appointed Titular Archbishop of Rusibisir and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Ghana, Togo and Benin by Pope John Paul II.

Ivan Dias selected as his episcopal motto: "Servus".

Ivan Dias was later named Apostolic Nuncio to Korea on 20 June 1986, and Apostolic Nuncio to Albania on 28 October 1991.

Ivan Dias 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.

Ivan Dias was ex officio the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urbaniana University.

Ivan Dias presented his resignation as required on reaching the age of 75.

Ivan Dias was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.

Ivan Dias established himself as theologically conservative, strongly maintaining the Church's stances against abortion and homosexuality.

Ivan Dias believed that gays and lesbians could be "cured" of their "unnatural tendencies" through the Sacrament of Penance.