The Portuguese Episcopal Conference ( pt, Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa) is a collective body of the national church and the administration of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The Portuguese Episcopal Conference performs certain pastoral functions designed to deal with the liturgical, disciplinary and other issues specific to the Catholic community in

. The supreme body of the Episcopal Conference is the Portuguese general assembly of bishops and archbishops. Decisions of the Episcopal Conference are approved by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

History

The Portuguese Episcopal Conference was formed September 1, 2000.

Structure

Current members of the Episcopal Conference are all Portuguese bishops and archbishops. The governing body of the conference is the Presidency. Between sessions of the conference, which meet twice a year, operates the Permanent Council, composed of a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and two permanent members.

Presidency

The current members of the Presidium are: Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon

Manuel Clemente Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, GCC (; born 16 July 1948), officially Manuel III, is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Metropolitan Patriarch of Lisbon since 18 May 2013 and a cardinal since 14 February ...

- the president of the Presidium; Bishop of Leiria-Fatima,

Antônio Augusto dos Santos Marto Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

- Vice-President of the Presidium; Priest

Manuel Joaquim Gomes Barbosa Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

Permanent Council

The current members of the Permanent Council are: Archbishop of Braga

Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga CGIH (born 5 March 1944) is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop-Primate of Braga from 1999 to 2021. Biography He was born in the Brufe neighborhood of Vila Nova de Famalicão Municipalit ...

- Chairman of the Permanent Council; Bishop of Porto,

António Francisco dos Santos António Francisco dos Santos (21 February 1948 – 11 September 2017) was a Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Ro ...

- Vice-Chairman of the Permanent Council; Archbishop of Évora,

José Francisco Sanches Alves José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

- The Secretary of the Permanent Council; Bishop of Viana do Castelo

Anacleto Cordeiro Gonçalves de Oliveira Anacleto Cordeiro Gonçalves de Oliveira (17 July 1946 – 18 September 2020) was a Portuguese Roman Catholic bishop. Gonçalves de Oliveira was born in Portugal and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He served as auxiliary bishop of th ...

- a permanent member; Bishop of Coimbra Virgílio do Nascimento Antunes - a permanent member.

The Conference Board

Standing Committee, acting under the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Portugal: Commission on the Social and Cultural Affairs; Commission for Ecumenism; The Commission on Christian Education; Commission on the Laity and Family; Liturgical Commission; Missionary Committee; Commission on Refugees and Exiles; The Board of pastoral care.

References

External links

* http://www.ecclesia.pt/ * http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/087.htm {{Authority control

Catholic Church in Portugal