He was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008 and before that led the Secretariat for Non-Christians (later renamed the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue) from 1984 to 2002.

Arinze was born in the tiny village of Eziowelle, Anambra, Nigeria, to a family of peasant farmers who practiced a local indigenous religion.

[1][2] He followed a brother in converting to Catholicism[1] and he was baptized on 1 November 1941, his ninth birthday, by Father Michael Tansi, who was beatified by John Paul II in 1998.

On 23 November 1958, at the chapel of the university, Arinze was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

[4] On 6 July 1965, Pope Paul VI appointed him titular bishop of Fissiana and coadjutor to Charles Heerey, archbishop of Onitsha, Nigeria.

At the end of the war, the Nigerian government deported all foreign missionaries stationed in the archdiocese, leaving only the native clergy and religious, who were few in number.

Pope John Paul II named Arinze Cardinal-Deacon of San Giovanni della Pigna in the consistory held on 25 May 1985.

[17] Two days after he became a cardinal, Arinze was appointed president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which was renamed the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 1988.

When Pope John Paul II died on 2 April 2005, all major Vatican officials – including Arinze – automatically lost their positions.

The programs cover almost all of Pope John Paul II's encyclicals and apostolic letters, the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, and many other topics.

With respect to the proposal endorsed by many German bishops to allow the Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive communion, he said that it was not a question of "hospitality" and the celebration of Mass is "not an ecumenical service".