Francis Arinze was born on November 1st, 1932 in Eziowelle, Idemili North local government area of Anambra state, Nigeria to an animist family. He is a Nigerian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Francis Arinze is 91 years old.
Francis was not baptized until he was nine years old when he converted to Roman Catholicism. Father Cyprian Michael Tansi, one of Nigeria’s first native priests, was an important influence on him. Cyprian was the one who baptized him, and Arinze certified Cyprian’s beatification in 1998.
Despite opposition from his father, young Francis entered All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha at the age of 15, where he obtained a degree in philosophy in the year 1950. After his graduation, Arinze became a lecturer at the seminary where he taught until 1953. Later in the year 1955, Francis proceeded to Rome where he studied theology at the Pontifical Urban University, and eventually obtained a doctorate in sacred theology summa cum laude.
Francis Arinze was ordained a priest at the Chapel of the University on November 23rd, 1958. His ordination was officiated by Cardinal Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian, pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. After his priestly ordination, Arinze stayed back in Rome, and obtained a master's in theology in 1959 and doctorate in 1960. Arinze’s doctoral thesis topic was on "Ibo Sacrifice as an Introduction to the Catechesis of Holy Mass". The thesis would later become the basis for his work, "Sacrifice in Ibo Religion", which he published in 1970.
From 1961 to 1962, Arinze was professor of liturgy, logic, and basic philosophy at Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu. While lecturing at Bigard Enugu, he was appointed the regional secretary for Catholic education for the eastern Nigeria. From there, he was transferred to London, where he attended and graduated from the Institute of Education in the year 1964.
At the time he became a bishop on August 29th, 1965 at the age of 32, Arinze was the youngest Roman Catholic bishop in the world. Then, he was appointed titular bishop of Fissiana, and named coadjutor to the then Archbishop of Onitsha, Nigeria. He took part in the final session of the Second Vatican Council along with the Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, who was then 45 years old. When the then Archbishop of Onitsha Charles Heerey died in February 1967, Arinze became the new Archbishop a few months later, on June 26, 1967. He was the first African to head his own diocese.
Not long after Arinze settled into his office as the new Archbishop, the Nigeria-Biafra War ensued. The entire archdiocese of Onitsha falls within the territory that answered Biafra during the war. Consequently, Archbishop Arinze had to flee from his see city of Onitsha and live as a refugee, first in Adazi and later at Amichi, for the three years of the war, which lasted from 1967 to the year 1970.
Despite being a refugee himself, Archbishop Arinze worked tirelessly, caring for refugees, displaced persons, the sick and the hungry, giving support to priests and religious, and offering the faithful hope for the future. With the help of foreign missionaries, Arinze supervised what was described as "the most effective and efficient distributions of relief materials" in history, by an international relief worker. He also was very careful to separate the church from the ongoing political conflict, which action gained for him respect of all the factions in the country. Happy with Arinze's many accomplishments as the head of an archdiocese with few resources, and his ability to work side by side with Muslims, Pope John Paul II in the year 1979 appointed Arinze pro-president of the Vatican's Secretariat for Non-Christians, an institution that later became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue .
In 1984, Francis Arinze was named by John Paul II to head the Vatican office which handles relations with all other religions except for Judaism. For most of this time, he focused on relations between Catholicism and Islam. Every year he sent a special message to Muslims to commemorate fasting during Ramadan. On May 25th, 1985, he became a Cardinal-Deacon of San Giovanni della Pigna in the consistory. Since 2002, he has led the Vatican office dealing with methods of divine worship. The Cardinal was for a time was considered to be a possible successor to Pope John Paul II. He was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008.
Arinze is known as a theological conservative, something common to Catholics from the southern hemisphere. Arinze has been heavily involved with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Inquisition, and supports efforts to maintain strict doctrinal integrity in the Catholic Church. He has said of gay men with ponytails and earrings that he would like to “wash their heads with holy water.” He has also authored several books including a complete Consecration and Truth Catechetical Program for children and adults.
As a Roman Catholic Priest, Arinze has been single all his life. His motto is "Regnum Christi floreat", which means; May the Kingdom of Christ flourish.
His net worth is not available.
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