Francis Arinze (; born 1 November 1932) is a Nigerian prelate of the Catholic Church, who served as the Prefect of the Secretariat for Non-Christians from 1984 to 2002 and Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008. He previously served as the Archbishop of Onitsha from 1967 to 1985 and as the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria from 1979 to 1984. Arinze is the current Cardinal Bishop of Velletri–Segni since 2005 and was one of the principal advisors to Pope John Paul II and was considered papabile at the 2005 Papal conclave. According to Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Arinze is the only surviving council father among the few who went from Nigeria to the Second Vatican Council.
Born in Eziowelle, Anambra State, Nigeria, Arinze was made a cardinal in 1985 and named Cardinal-bishop of Velletri-Segni in 2005.
Early life, family, and education
Francis Arinze was born on 1 November 1932 as the third out of seven children. Born in Eziowelle, Anambra State, Southeastern Nigeria, his father was Arinze Nwankwu (later baptised as Joseph) and his mother was Bernadette Mgbafor Arinze (née Ekwoanya). He has three brothers: Christopher, Linus, and Faustin; and three sisters: Cecilia, Victoria, and Catherine. Arinze's birth name, Anizoba (meaning "May the land save, may the spirit save, may the earth spirit save you") was formed from the name of the spirit called , who cares for the earth, the traditions and customs of the people according to the African religion, which the family practiced until Francis became nine years old on 1 November 1941, when he was baptised as Francis into the Catholic Church by Father Cyprian Tansi, whom he would later serve as an altar server. He also developed interest to the priesthood but his father opposed him citing "you will not become a priest because if you become a priest, you will not marry and you won't have children and you will be hearing all the bad things people do in your two ears and that is not good".
Arinze, along his siblings attended the missionary school. Parents saw how the missionaries dominated the society and their influence on children were positive, they baptised their children. Arinze's two elder brothers and his sisters were also baptised. Arinze completed his primary school at St. Anthony's Dunukofia. The following year, in 1947 at age 15, he was admitted into All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha (then in Nnewi but was part of now Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu), where he studied philosophy and graduated in 1952. In 1955, he went to Rome to study theology at the Pontifical Urban University.
On 23 November 1958, Arinze was ordained by Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, who later became a cardinal. He remained in Rome, where he completed his master's degree in theology in 1958 and his doctorate in sacred theology, summa cum laude in 1960. His doctoral theses, "Igbo Sacrifice as an introduction to the Catechesis of Holy Mass" was highly cited by scholars and was later published into a book in 1970 by the Ibadan University Press under the title Sacrifice in Ibo Religion. hence making him the youngest Catholic bishop in the world when Heerey consecrated him on 29 August 1965 at the age of 32. He attended the final session of the Second Vatican Council in 1965.