Désiré Tsarahazana (born 13 June 1954) is a Malagasy prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He has been Archbishop of Toamasina since 2010 but served in that see prior to its elevation since 2008.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed him a cardinal in 2018.

Biography

Désiré Tsarahazana was born on 13 June 1954 in Amboangibe in the

Sava Region Sava is a region in northern Madagascar. Its capital is Sambava. Until 2009 Sava belonged to Antsiranana Province. The region is situated at the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by the region Diana to the north, Sofi ...

of Madagascar. He studied at the minor seminary in Mahajanga from 1970 to 1976 and then continued his studies at Antsiranana ou Diego-Suarez until 1978, and then prepared for the priesthood from 1979 to 1982 and studied philosophy and theology from 1983 to 1986. He was ordained a priest on 28 September 1986.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him Bishop of Fenoarivo Atsinanana on 30 October 2000 He was consecrated a bishop on 18 February 2001. He chose as his episcopal motto "" ("Conquer evil with good").

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

named him Bishop of

Toamasina Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of it ...

on 24 November 2008. He became its archbishop when the diocese was raised to the status of archdiocese on 26 February 2010. He was vice-president of the

Episcopal Conference of Madagascar The Episcopal Conference of Madagascar (CEM) (French: ''Conférence Episcopale de Madagascar'') is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Madagascar. Founded in 1965, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hier ...

from 2006 to 2012 and since November 2012 he has been its president. That Conference elected him to participate in the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family. In February 2018 he took part in a Vatican conference on "Tackling violence committed in the name of religion". Since 2012 he has led a campaign to make establish a national pilgrimage site in Andevoranto dedicated to Henri de Solages (1786–1832), who is considered the father of Catholicism in Madagascar. A stone church he had constructed was dedicated on 7 December 2014 by the papal nuncio. In 2013, he denied that employees of

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

(CRS) were promoting contraception in Madagascar as the human overpopulation think tank Population Research Institute charged. He said the reports were based on confusion between government health care workers, whom CRD trains in children's health and malaria prevention, with CRS employees.

made Tsarahazana a cardinal on 28 June 2018, assigning him the

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary des ...

San Gregorio Barbarigo alle Tre Fontane The church of San Gregorio Barbarigo is a place of Catholic worship in Rome, located in the EUR district on Via delle Montagne Rocciose. History The church of San Gregorio Barbarigo was built between 1970 and 1972 by the architect Giuseppe Va ...

. In a 2022 interview with

Aid to the Church in Need In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

, the archbishop described the state of the Catholic Church in Madagascar as healthy, but in need of a deepening of the faith. "There are many Christians. Most of the dioceses are seeing an increase in the Christian faith, and churches are full. However, I should also mention that ours is a country of great contrasts. We have many resources, but the country is deteriorating. And so, we have to ask ourselves if we are really Christians, if we are living as Jesus taught us, in service to others. This contrast, this difference, worries me. There are Christians, but we need to go deeper in the faith. The faith has to be really lived, and not just practiced outwardly. If we live as Jesus teaches, then we can develop better."

References

External links

* * * , 6 October 2015 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsarahazana, Désiré Living people 1944 births 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Madagascar Cardinals created by Pope Francis Malagasy cardinals People from Sava Region Malagasy Roman Catholic archbishops Roman Catholic archbishops of Toamasina Roman Catholic bishops of Fenoarivo Atsinanana Roman Catholic bishops of Toamasina

Biography

See also

References

External links