Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar (born 12 December 1973) is a Portuguese prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who has been bishop of

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

since 2023. He was an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the

Patriarchate of Lisbon The Metropolitan Patriarchate of Lisbon () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or patriarchal archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Its archiepiscopal see is the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major, ...

from 2019 to 2023 and headed the organization responsible for planning

World Youth Day World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for the youth organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where dur ...

in August 2023.

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

made him a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

on 30 September 2023.

Biography

Américo Aguiar was born in in

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

in the

Porto metropolitan area The Porto Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AMP) is a metropolitan area in northern Portugal centered on the City of Porto, Portugal's second largest city.Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), The metropolitan area, covering 17 municipalities, is th ...

on 12 December 1973. He participated in electoral politics in his youth in both Matosinhos and the neighboring municipality of

Maia Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; ), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daughter of A ...

, working with members of the city council in both. He served on the City Council of Matosinhos from 1994 to 1997 as a member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. He has called his political engagement "great fun" (). After completing middle school, he entered the seminary in Ermesinde and then studied at the major seminary of the

Diocese of Porto The Diocese of Porto () (Oporto) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Portugal. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Braga. Its see at Porto is in the Norte region, and the second largest city in Portugal. History The dioc ...

and the Porto section of the Portuguese Catholic University. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Porto on 8 July 2001 by Armindo Lopes Coelho, Bishop of Porto. He served as parish priest of São Pedro de Azevedo (Campanhã) from 2001 to 2002; special secretary to the bishop of Porto, Armindo Lopes Coelho, and parish priest of the cathedral from 2002 to 2004; and vicar general of the diocese from 2004 to 2006. In 2014 he earned a master's degree in communication sciences from the

Catholic University of Portugal The Catholic University of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run unive ...

, Lisbon. He was president of the administrative board of Rádio Renascença (Lisbon) from 2017 while continuing to provide pastoral services in Porto. In 2017 he became national director of the Secretariat of Church Social Communications and head of the Episcopal Commission for Culture, Cultural Assets and Social Communications. He led the diocese's Fellowship of Priests from 2011 to 2019. On 1 March 2019,

appointed him auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and titular bishop of Dagno. He received his episcopal ordination from the 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 was the Metropolitan Patriarch of Lisbon from 2013 to 2023 and a cardinal since 14 February 201 ...

, at the Santissima Trindade Church in Porto on 31 March 2019. He was then the youngest bishop in Portugal. In January 2023, he praised the funeral Mass for

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

, saying it balanced Benedict's desire for simplicity with the significance of the occasion. He led the Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons of the Patriarchate of Lisbon until March 2023, when the

Portuguese Episcopal Conference The Portuguese Episcopal Conference ( - ''CEP''), founded in September 1, 2000, is the grouping of the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal and is organised under the terms of Canon 447 of the Code of Canon Law promulgated on 25 Janua ...

decided that only laypeople should serve on such bodies. He heads Fundação da JMJ, the body responsible for organizing

in Portugal on 1–6 August 2023. On 9 July 2023, Pope Francis announced plans to make him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September. Aguiar will be the second youngest cardinal. He said his appointment "has to do with youth, it has to do with Portugal, it has to do with World Youth Day" rather than himself. That this results in two active cardinals from the see of Lisbon has been called "a genuine novelty" and provoked speculation about his future in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

. At that consistory he was made cardinal priest of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana. At the time, he was the second youngest member of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

. Pope Francis named him bishop of Setúbal on 21 September 2023. He was installed there as the fourth bishop of Setúbal on 26 October. He participated as a

cardinal elector A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

Controversies

In July 2023, being responsible for

World Youth Day 2023 World Youth Day 2023 () was the 2023 installment of World Youth Day, a recurring Catholic festival. The 2023 event was held in Lisbon, Portugal, which was announced at World Youth Day 2019 in Panama City, Panama. About 354,000 pilgrims from mor ...

, he declared in an interview that the purpose of the event was not "to convert young people to Christ". The comment sparked a wave of criticism from the faithful, members of the clergy and the media.

Coat of arms

Notes

References

External links