Pope Francis today appointed two auxiliary bishops for the Patriarchate of Lisbon, one of whom, at 45 years old, becomes the youngest bishop in Portugal.
One of them is Bishop Alexandre Coutinho Lopes de Brito Palma, who will be the youngest in Portugal, when he receives episcopal consecration on July 21 in the Santa Maria de Belém Church, in the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.
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In statements to the agency Ecclesia of the Portuguese episcopate, the bishop-elect expressed his deep gratitude to God, Pope Francis, the Patriarch of Lisbon and the bishops of Portugal, for his appointment; and he highlighted that “the holy people of God are always extremely affectionate towards their ministers and I am a witness to all that affection.”
“We must want to give a joyful, self-conscious and attractive testimony of our faith and, above all, unite with everyone to build a more just society, also showing the public value of our Christian faith and our existence as a Church,” said Mons. Lopes de Brito Palma.
The bishop-elect was born on August 11, 1978 in Lisbon. He obtained the baccalaureate and licentiate in Theology at the Portuguese Catholic University and obtained the doctorate in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He was ordained a priest on July 2, 2006, incardinating himself into the Patriarchate of Lisbon.
He has held, among others, the following positions: Parish Vicar of Nossa Senhora do Cabo (2006-2008); collaborator of the Oratório de Nossa Senhora das Amoreiras, deputy director and associate professor of the Faculty of Theology of the Portuguese Catholic University; member of the editorial board of the international Catholic magazine Communion.
Since 2012 he has been prefect of studies at the Cristo Rei dos Olivais Major Seminary in Lisbon and since last May he has been president of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 Foundation.
The second auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, appointed today by Pope Francis, is Mons. Nuno Isidro Nunes Cordeirountil now vicar general of the Patriarchate of Lisbon.
The bishop-elect was born on September 8, 1964 in Lisbon. He is 61 years old. He studied Theology at the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon and Spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He was ordained a priest on July 1, 1990 for the Patriarchate of Lisbon.
He has been parish priest of Nossa Senhora dos Anjos and other parishes (1990-1996); spiritual director of the Seminario São José de Caparide (1998-1999 and 2001-2017), of the Seminario Nossa Senhora da Graça de Penafirme (1999-2001) and of the Seminario Mayor Cristo Rei dos Olivais (dated 2017).
He has also been director of the culture department of the Patriarchate of Lisbon (2012-2018); Since 2011 he has been a member of the Cathedral’s chapter of canons and the presbyteral council.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.