{{Short description|Ivorian cardinal}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Bernard Yago |title = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan|Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan]] |church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] |archdiocese = Abidjan |see = Abidjan |appointed = 5 April 1960 |term_end = 19 December 1994 |predecessor = Jean-Baptiste Boivin |successor = [[Bernard Agré]] |other_post = [[Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono]] (1983-97) |ordination = 1 May 1947 |consecration = 8 May 1960 |consecrated_by = [[Pope John XXIII]] |cardinal = 2 February 1983 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope John Paul II]] |rank = [[Cardinal-Priest]] |birth_name = Bernard Yago |birth_date = July 1916 |birth_place = Pass, [[Côte d'Ivoire]] |death_date = 5 October 1997 (aged 81) |death_place = [[Abidjan]], Cote d'Ivoire |alma_mater = [[Institut Catholique de Paris]] |coat_of_arms = [[File:Coat of arms of Bernard Yago.svg|150px]] |motto = ''Ut omnes Unum sint'' }}

{{Infobox cardinalstyles| cardinal name=Bernard Yago| dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan|Abidjan]] ([[emeritus]]) |}}

'''Bernard Yago''' (July 1916 &ndash; 5 October 1997) was an [[Catholic Church in Ivory Coast|Ivorian Catholic]] prelate who served as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan|Archbishop of Abidjan]] from 1960 to 1994.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elleh |first=Nnamdi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKoKHmuexywC |title=Architecture and Power in Africa |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-97679-8 |pages=66–67 |language=en}}</ref> He was made a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] in 1983.

==Biography== Bernard Yago was born in [[Pass, Ivory Coast|Pass]], [[Yopougon]], and studied at the [[seminary]] in [[Abidjan]] before being [[Holy Orders|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priesthood]] on 1 May 1947, the second African priest to do so after [[Rene Kouassi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daddieh |first=Cyril K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VptCwAAQBAJ |title=Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) |date=2016-02-09 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7389-6 |pages=136 |language=en}}</ref> He then served as a [[professor]] at the [[Minor seminary|Minor Seminary]] of [[Bingerville]] and as director of the Pre-[[Seminary]] École de Petit Clerics until 1956, whence he began [[Parish (Catholic Church)|pastoral]] work in Abidjan until 1957. Yago furthered his studies at the [[Institut Catholique de Paris|Catholic Institute of]] [[Paris]] from 1957 to 1959. Upon his return to [[Côte d'Ivoire]], he was Counselor of [[Catholic Action]] in Abidjan from until 1960.

On 5 April 1960, Yago was appointed [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan|Archbishop of Abidjan]] by [[Pope John XXIII]]. He received his [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecration]] on the following 8 May from Pope John himself, with Bishops Napoléon-Alexandre Labrie, [[Eudists|CIM]] and [[Fulton J. Sheen|Fulton John Sheen]] serving as [[Consecrator|co-consecrators]], in [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. Yago attended the [[Second Vatican Council]] from 1962 to 1965, and sat on the Council's [[Central Preparatory Commission]].

[[Pope John Paul II]] made him [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Priest]] of [[San Crisogono]] in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 2 February 1983.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lentz III |first=Harris M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ |title=Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2015-07-11 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2155-5 |pages=202 |language=en}}</ref> Yago, who was the first cardinal from Côte d'Ivoire, resigned his post as Archbishop on 19 December 1994, after 34 years. He lost the right to participate in a [[papal conclave]] upon reaching the age of eighty in July 1996.

Cardinal Yago died in Abidjan at age 81.<ref name=":0" /> He is buried in the [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] [[cathedral]] of Abidjan.

== Legacy == Yago was one of the only clergy in Côte d'Ivoire who openly opposed the construction of the gargantuan [[Basilica of Our Lady of Peace|basilica]], modeled on [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in Vatican City, built by the former president [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] in his home village of [[Yamoussoukro]] because of the enormous waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, and attempted to persuade Pope John Paul II from consecrating it during his visit to the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calderisi |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XetdAAAAQBAJ |title=Earthly Mission: The Catholic Church and World Development |date=2013-10-08 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19676-4 |pages=109–110 |language=en}}</ref>

==References== <!--- See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/byago.html Catholic-Hierarchy] [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]] *[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-y.htm#Yago Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan|Archbishop of Abidjan]] | before=[[Jean-Baptiste Boivin]], [[Society of African Missions|SMA]] | after=[[Bernard Agré]] | years=1960&ndash;1994 }} {{s-end}}

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Africa}} {{Authority control}}

{{Cardinals created by John Paul II}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Yago, Bernard}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:1997 deaths]] [[Category:Ivorian cardinals]] [[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:Ivorian Roman Catholic archbishops]] [[Category:Catholic University of Paris alumni]] [[Category:People from Abidjan]] [[Category:20th-century cardinals]] [[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Abidjan]]