Archbishop of Marseille
Jean-Marc Noël Aveline is Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria ai Monti. Jean-Marc Aveline was born on 26 December 1958 in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria. After secondary studies in Marseille at Lycée Victor-Hugo, he followed courses for the Grandes Écoles at Lycée Thiers in the same city. In 1977 he entered the interdiocesan seminary of Avignon, where he completed the first cycle of theology, and then the Séminaire des Carmes in Paris, undertaking theological studies at the Institut Catholique. He obtained the licentiate in Theology in 1985. At the same time, he attended philosophy courses at Université Paris I and Paris IV Sorbonne, obtaining the licentiate in Philosophy. In 2000 he earned the doctorate in Theology with the thesis Pour une théologie christologique des religions, Tillich en débat avec Troettsch, published in the Cogitatio fidei series of the publisher Le Cerf. He was ordained a priest on 3 November 1984 for the Archdiocese of Marseille. After ordination, he held the following ministerial offices: professor of theology and director of studies of the interdiocesan seminary in Marseille (1986-1991); founder and director of the Institut de sciences et de théologie des religions in Marseille (ISTR) (1992-2002). In addition, from 1991 to 1996, he was head of the Service diocésain des vocations and diocesan delegate for seminarians. In 1995 he was appointed director of the Institut Saint-Jean, which in 1998 became the Institut Catholique de la Méditerranée, a center associated with the Faculty of Theology of Lyon; he has been its director from 2002 and at the same time episcopal vicar in charge of formation. From 2007 he was also vicar general of Marseille. In addition, from 1993 he was founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Chemins de dialogue; he was also a member of the editorial committee of the Questions ouvertes series of Editions de l'Atelier and a member of the editorial committee of Recherches de sciences religieuses. From 2007 to 2012 he was a consultor at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.