Roman Catholic Cardinal. The fifth child of a family of winemakers, Jean Marie Julien Balland was born in Bué and received his education at the Seminary of Bourges, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, from where he earned a licentiate in philosophy in 1956, and in theology in 1962, and later at the La Sorbonne University of Paris, from where he earned doctorates in philosophy and theology. Ordained priest on September 3, 1961, he was appointed to the teaching staff of the Seminary of Bourges, the Major Regional Seminary of Tours, and ultimately at the Major Seminary of Poitiers. Performing pastoral ministry in the rural areas of Che, of which he was named episcopal vicar in 1974, he served as diocesan assistant of the Christians in the Rural World Movement of Bourges and as vicar general of the archdiocese of Bourges between 1980 and 1982. Elected bishop of the diocese of Dijon, he received his episcopal consecration on December 12, 1982 inside the cathedral the see. Transferred to the metropolitan see of Reims on August 8, 1988, he acted as apostolic visitor to the French Seminaries between 1992 and 1994. Promoted to the metropolitan see of Lyon on May 27, 1995, becoming thus Primate of the Gauls, Pope John Paul II created him cardinal priest in the consistory of February 21, 1998 with the title of San Pietro in Vincoli. Suffering from lung cancer, although he had difficulty climbing the steps to receive the red hat from the named Pontiff, he was well enough to greet well-wishers at a reception hosted by the French Ambassador to the Holy See that evening. Balland died a week later on March 1, 1998, at the Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse of Lyon and was buried in the crypt of Saint-Jean's metropolitan and primatial cathedral of the city.