Paul-Pierre Philippe


Paul-Pierre Philippe O.P. was a Cardinal and Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Catholic Church.

Early life

He joined the Dominican order in Paris in 1926 and was ordained on 6 July 1932. He was a faculty member of the Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome from 1935 until 1939. During the war he served as an officer in the French Army. After the war he returned to Rome to teach until 1950.

Archbishop and Cardinal

appointed him titular Archbishop of Erocleopoli Maggiore on 28 August 1962 and he was consecrated on 21 September of that year at the hands of Pope John. He attended the Second Vatican Council. He was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Religious on 14 December 1959.
He would remain secretary of the congregation until 28 June 1967, when he was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Deacon of S. Pio V a Villa on 5 March 1973. Pope Paul VI appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches the next day. He opted for the order of cardinal priests and his deaconry was elevated pro hac vice to title on 2 February 1983 after being ten years as a cardinal deacon.