Théodore-Adrien Sarr

Théodore-Adrien Sarr was born in Fadiouth, Senegal, on 28 November 1936, into a Serer family, and ordained a priest on 28 May 1964 by Archbishop Hyacinthe Thiandoum. Appointed Bishop of Kaolack on 1 July 1974 — the diocese's first African bishop — he was consecrated on 24 November 1974 and served there for twenty-six years. On 2 June 2000 John Paul II named him Archbishop of Dakar, a post he held until 22 December 2014.

Sarr presided over the bishops' conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau (1987–2005), was President Delegate of the 2009 Synod for Africa, and from 2012 to 2016 led RECOWA, the new regional conference of West African bishops. Benedict XVI created him a cardinal on 24 November 2007, with the title of Santa Lucia a Piazza d'Armi; he voted in the 2013 conclave. On his elevation he said the cardinalate should “help me promote Christian/Muslim dialogue in Senegal and abroad” — the defining theme of a churchman in a country where Christians are a small minority. His motto is Domine, ad quem ibimus — “Lord, to whom shall we go?”