Cardinal Dominique Mathieu has left Iran with the backing of Pope Leo XIV, bringing an abrupt end to the presence of the Latin Church’s only bishop in the country during the first days of war.
The development emerged in a joint exclusive report by Niwa Limbu for the Catholic Herald and Nico Spuntoni, Vatican correspondent of the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, which first published the story on Thursday March 12.
Their report revealed that the Belgian cardinal’s evacuation from Tehran was not simply based on the deteriorating security situation but was the result of consultations involving the Italian diplomatic authorities and the Holy See.
The key section of the report explained the unusual position in which the cardinal had found himself as the crisis intensified. “Thus, Mathieu was the last Latin-rite bishop in Iran and the only one to experience these weeks of war firsthand,” the article stated.
“That was until Sunday, when he was evacuated along with the nunciature’s chargé d’affaires.” It continued: “The Farnesina (Italian Foreign Office) has learned that this decision was reached after ongoing consultation with the Italian Embassy in Tehran and the representative of the nunciature still serving. According to British journalist Niwa Limbu, who consulted sources close to the cardinal, the Pope’s support for this solution was crucial to his decision.”
That sequence of consultations proved decisive in persuading the cardinal to leave the Iranian capital. Cardinal Mathieu had remained in Tehran during the opening phase of the conflict and had therefore become one of the very few senior Christian figures still present in the country as air raids intensified. His residence and the chancery of the Latin archdiocese are located within the compound of the Italian embassy.
The cardinal ultimately departed the country together with embassy staff as the diplomatic mission was shut down. The archdiocese’s headquarters, including the Cathedral of the Consolata, the archbishop’s residence and administrative offices, are located inside the embassy compound in Tehran. Travelling via Azerbaijan, he arrived in Rome last Sunday after witnessing the first days of military clashes in the Iranian capital. Shortly afterwards he was received in a private audience by Pope Leo XIV on March 11.
Although the Holy See has not released details of the meeting, it is widely understood that the conversation centred on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iran and the condition of the small Catholic community there. Mathieu had effectively become the only Latin-rite bishop remaining in the country following the vacancy of the apostolic nunciature earlier this year.
The nunciature has been without a resident nuncio since the end of January, when Archbishop Andrzej Józwowicz was reappointed as nuncio to Sri Lanka . In the only message he issued after arriving in Rome, Cardinal Mathieu acknowledged the painful nature of the decision to leave. “I arrived in Rome yesterday, not without regret and sorrow for our brothers and sisters in Iran,” he said, explaining that his departure was linked to the “complete evacuation of the Italian embassy, the seat of the archdiocese”. He also asked the faithful to pray “for the conversion of hearts to inner peace” while he waits for the possibility of returning.
Born in Arlon in Belgium in 1963, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual after completing his secondary education. He made his solemn profession in 1987 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1989. Over the following decades he held numerous responsibilities within the Franciscan order, including serving as provincial minister of the Belgian province and later as delegate general after its unification with the French province.
His ministry later took him to the Middle East. In 2013 he moved to Lebanon, joining the Provincial Custody of the East and the Holy Land, where he served as a formator and master of novices while also working with candidates preparing for religious life. In 2021 he was appointed archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan of the Latins, becoming the spiritual leader of a tiny Catholic minority scattered across a vast country.
Three years later Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals at the consistory of December 7, 2024, assigning him the titular church of Santa Giovanna Antida Thouret in Rome.
