Archbishop of Teheran-Ispahan
Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, O.F.M. Conv., Archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins, Iran, was born on 13 June 1963 in Arlon (Diocese of Namur), Belgium. After completing his secondary education, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. He made his solemn profession in 1987 and was ordained a priest on 24 September 1989. Since 2013 he has been incardinated in the Provincial Custody of the East and the Holy Land. Within his Order, he has held various posts: vocations director, secretary, vicar and provincial minister of the Belgian province of the Friars Minor Conventual, becoming delegate general after the unification with the province of France, rector of the National Shrine of Saint Anthony of Padua in Brussels and director of the related Confraternity. He has also been president of two different non-profit associations linked to the presence of the Friars Minor Conventual in Belgium, with responsibilities in the Catholic School of Landen. He was President of the Central European Federation of the Friars Minor Conventual and a member of the International Commission for the Economy of his Order. In 2013 he moved to Lebanon, to the Provincial Custody of the East and the Holy Land, where he has served as Custodial Secretary, formator, master of novices and rector of postulants and candidates. Since 2019 he has been definitor general and general assistant for the Central European Federation of the Friars Minor Conventual. On 8 January he was appointed Archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, in Iran, and received episcopal consecration on 16 February. He was created and proclaimed cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 7 December 2024, and was assigned the titular church S. Giovanna Antida Thouret. Member of: · Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints.