Bernardin Cardinal Gantin

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'''Bernardin Cardinal Gantin''' (born May 8,1922) is the highest-ranking black African in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, though some early Popes came from the Mediterranean shores of the African landmass. A native of Benin, he was consecrated a bishop in 1957 by Eugene Cardinal Tisserant, to whose then post of Dean of the College of Cardinals he would one day succeed. In 1960 Pope John XXIII appointed him Archbishop of Cotonou. After he attended the Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI appointed him to the Roman Curia and made him a Cardinal in the consistory of 1977. He was named President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" by Pope John Paul I, the only administrative appointment of that month-long papacy. During the Conclave following John Paul I's death, Cardinal Gantin was thought to be one of the ''papabili'', those cardinals who are considered favorites to be elected pope. Under Pope John Paul II he headed the Congregation for Bishops, supervising episcopal appointments throughout the world, from 1984 to 1998. Cardinal-Bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Palestrina since 1986, he was Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1993 to 2002 when he retired to move home to Benin.