Jose Gonçalves Heleno (3 November 1927 – 1 September 2021) was a Brazilian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

. He was first appointed a

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Governador Valadares from 1976 to 1977. He then served as the Bishop of Governador Valadares from 7 December 1977 until his retirement on 25 April 2001.

Biography

Gonçalves Heleno was born in Cipotânea,

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, on 3 November 1927 to José Francisco Heleno and wife Maria Francisca de Almeida. He was the brother of Hélio Gonçalves Heleno (1935–2012), who served as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Caratinga from 1978 to 2011. Gonçalves Heleno died in

Caratinga Caratinga is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the countryside of the States of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. Situated in the Vale do Rio Doce (mesoregion), V ...

on 1 September 2021, at the age of 93. He had lived in

for approximately 20 years following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. He was buried next to his brother at the São João Batista Cathedral in Caratinga on 1 September 2021.

References

1927 births 2021 deaths Brazilian Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Governador Valadares 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil People from Minas Gerais People from Caratinga {{Brazil-RC-bishop-stub