Paul Poupard

Paul Joseph Jean Poupard (born 30 August 1930 in Bouzillé, Maine-et-Loire) is a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who has been President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and also of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985.

Poupard was born in Bouzillé, Maine-et-Loire, and raised in a very Catholic family and culture. Heavily influenced by his pastor, to whom Poupard credits his vocation, he studied at the minor seminary in Beaupréau, University of Angers, and École Pratique des Hautes Études of the Sorbonne (from where he obtained his doctorates in theology and history). Poupard was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Stanislas Courbe on 18 December 1954, and then taught at the Mongazon School. After entering the French section of the Secretariat of State in 1959, he was raised to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness on 20 March 1965, and of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness on 29 November 1971. Poupard was Rector of the Institut Catholique de Paris from 1972 to 1980, and also served as Vice-President of the Society of French Ecclesiastical History.