Biography
José Freire Falcão was born on 23 October 1925, in Ererê in the state of Ceará. He entered the seminary in Fortaleza at the age of 14. He was ordained a priest on 19 June 1949. He was teaching at the seminary and leading the diocesan liturgy commission when, on 24 April 1967, Pope Paul VI named him titular bishop of Vardimissa and bishop coadjutor of Roman Catholic Diocese of Limoeiro do Norte, Limoeiro do Norte. He received his episcopal consecration on 17 June and succeeded as bishop on 19 August. He was transferred to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Teresina, Archdiocese of Teresina on 25 November 1971. Pope John Paul II appointed him archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brasília, Brasília on 15 February 1984 and created him a cardinal on 28 June 1988, assigning him as a cardinal priest to San Luca a Via Prenestina. He retired as archbishop of Brasília upon the appointment of his successor on 28 January 2004. He was one of the Cardinal electors in Papal conclave, 2005, cardinal electors who participated in the Papal conclave, 2005, 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. On 17 September 2021, Falcão was admitted to hospital as a precaution after being diagnosed with COVID-19. On 24 September, the Archdiocese of Brasília announced Falcão's health had deteriorated, that he was intubated and in grave condition after suffering kidney and respiratory complications. He died from complications of the virus on 26 September 2021, at the age of 95. His Funeral Roman Catholic Mass, Mass and burial in the crypt of the cathedral took place the next day.References
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* * * Wikipedia:SPS, 1925 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Brazil Brazilian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II People from Ceará Roman Catholic archbishops of Brasília Roman Catholic archbishops of Teresina Roman Catholic bishops of Limoeiro do Norte Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Federal District (Brazil) {{Brazil-RC-archbishop-stub