Wilfrid Napier

Wilfrid Fox Napier OFM (born 8 March 1941) is a South African prelate of the Catholic Church.

Napier was born on 8 March 1941 in Matatiele, South Africa.

He joined the Franciscan Novitiate in Killarney before moving to St Anthony s College, Galway, to study at UCG.

He graduated from University College Galway in 1964 with a degree in Latin and English.

Studying at the Irish Franciscans St Anthony's College, Leuven, he obtained an MA in philosophy and theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.

He was ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor on 25 July 1970.

On 15 May 1978 he was appointed apostolic administrator of Kokstad and on 29 November 1980 he was appointed bishop there.

He chose as his episcopal motto the phrase pax et bonum which means "peace and goodwill".

He served as Bishop of Kokstad from 1981 to 1992.

He was president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference in 1987-94 and 1999.

He served as Archbishop of Durban from 1992 to 2021 and has been a cardinal since 2001.

On 29 March 1992, he was named to succeed Denis Hurley as Archbishop of Durban.

During the early nineties, he and other church leaders were involved in mediation and negotiation during the unrest leading up to the 1994 election and was present in September 1991 when the Peace Accord was signed.

He was also apostolic administrator of Umzimkulu from 1 August 1994 to 14 March 2009.

In 1995, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from University College Galway, his alma mater.

Napier is a member of the Episcopal Board of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).

Pope John Paul II made Napier a Cardinal Priest on 21 February 2001 and assigned the titular church of San Francesco d'Assisi ad Acilia.

In October 2003, Cardinal Napier stated that, to some extent, the Vatican lacks a "sufficient sensitivity to African churches."

He said the trips Pope John Paul II made to Africa have helped, since every time he comes, Vatican officials are forced to learn something about Africa.

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

In January 2005, Napier stated, in comments similar to some made by Pope Benedict XVI, that government programmes to distribute condoms were ineffectual in stemming the spread of HIV.

Instead, he proposed programmes based upon the principle of abstinence.

In December 2011 Napier criticised world leaders on their failure to keep climate change commitments.

He said "We express our displeasure with local and international political leadership which has failed to take decisive steps to make the changes required for the survival of humanity and life on earth. We as the religious community demand that our political leaders honour previous commitments and move towards ethically responsible positions and policies."

On 21 March 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named him a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers.

He was a cardinal elector at the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.

As the conclave neared he described himself as "very frightened"; he thought there was a "higher likelihood" the next pope would be non-European and said that "The centre of gravity of the church has also shifted from the north to the south."

He has been an occasional contributor to the South African national Catholic weekly "The Southern Cross".

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop of Durban on 9 June 2021.

Napier continues as apostolicae administrator of the archdiocese until his successor is installed.

On 17 March 2013, in a BBC interview Napier said that "From my experience paedophilia is actually an illness, it is not a criminal condition, it is an illness."

He went on to explain that he did not mean that there was to be not criminal liability.

He mentioned two priests he knew who were abused as children and went on to become paedophiles and said: "Now don't tell me that those people are criminally responsible like somebody who chooses to do something like that. I don't think you can really take the position and say that person deserves to be punished. He was himself damaged."

Michael Walsh, a biographer of Pope John Paul II, stated that at one time this was the view of many Catholics in the US and UK.

Barbara Dorries from Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and, herself a victim of sex abuse from a priest when she was a child told the BBC: "If it is a disease that's fine, but it's also a crime and crimes are punished, criminals are held accountable for what they did and what they do."

Napier attacked the BBC after the broadcast for being "sensationalist" and "putting words into my mouth".

He added: "I made it quite clear that paedophilia is a crime, and that we as a church have got a whole process in place for dealing with it."

Napier apologised via Twitter for his comments: "I apologise to victims of child abuse offended by my misstatement of what was and still is my concern about all abused, including abused abuser."

He went on to say "It's the supreme irony. Because I raised the issue of the abused abuser, I stand accused of insensitivity to the sufferings of the abused."

Cardinal Napier said in 2015 that the recent two Synod of Bishops dedicated to marriage and family life enabled for there to be "a strong focus on the problems and challenges facing the family", calling for the Church to accompany them through times of crisis.