José Cardoso Sobrinho (born 30 June 1933, in Caruaru) is the Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olinda e Recife in the

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 ...

ian state of

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. He joined the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1957 and was appointed bishop of Paracatu in 1979. Sobrinho is the successor of Hélder Câmara and had been tasked with undoing the influence of liberation theology in that region of Brazil.

2009 statement of excommunication

In March 2009, after an abortion on a nine-year-old girl raped by her stepfather and pregnant with twins had been performed due to rape exception of Brazil’s abortion laws, Sobrinho stated that automatic

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

had been incurred by the girl's mother and the medical team. Regarding his statement, he said: President Lula da Silva and Health Minister José Gomes Temporão decried his statement. The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil disowned it, saying that the mother was certainly not excommunicated and there was insufficient evidence to show that any member of the medical team was. The statement was also criticized in the Vatican newspaper ''

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...

'' by the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Cardinal Rino Fisichella. One of the doctors concerned said the controversy had drawn needed attention to Brazil's restrictive abortion laws.

Retirement

Sobrinho's resignation was accepted when he reached the canonical age limit upon turning 75 in 2008. His successor is , previously Bishop of Sobral

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobrinho, Jose Cardoso 1933 births 2009 in Brazil 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Brazil Carmelite bishops Living people People from Caruaru 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Brazil Roman Catholic archbishops of Olinda e Recife People from Paracatu, Minas Gerais