José Ornelas Carvalho, SCJ (born 5 January 1954) is a Portuguese

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 ...

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 Leiria-Fátima since 2022. He was the 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 ...

from 2015 to 2022. He was the Superior-General of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart from 2003 to 2015. He was elected to a three-year term as President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference in 2020.

Early life

José Ornelas Carvalho was born in 1954 in the parish of

Porto da Cruz Porto da Cruz (, is a Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish in the concelho, municipality of Machico in the northeastern corner of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 2,597, in an area of 25.22 km2. History The origin of the community's name ca ...

, in

Machico Machico () is a municipality, parish and city in the southeast part of the island of Madeira Island, Madeira, in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The easternmost municipality on the island, it is also the third-most populous area with a populati ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, the son of António Tomás Carvalho and Benvinda de Ornelas. He studied at the Diocesan Minor Seminary of Funchal from 1964 to 1967. Wishing to become a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, he joined the Missionary College of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

(1967-1969), and then studied at the Congregation's Missionary Institute in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

(1969-1971). On 29 September 1972 he made his temporary vows in Aveiro and, after two years of studies in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, he spent two years as a

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, from 1974 to 1976. Back in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, he concluded his degree in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

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 ...

, in 1979.

Ordained ministry

Priesthood

He was ordained priest on 9 August 1981, in his hometown of Porto da Cruz, in a ceremony presided by Maurílio de Gouveia, then Titular Archbishop of Mitylene. In 1983, he started teaching at the Faculty of Theology of the

; he interrupted his teaching activities to prepare his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Biblical Theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. The academic field of biblical theology is sub-divided into Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. Academic ...

in Rome and Germany, which he concluded on 14 July 1997. He also taught at the Major Seminary of Our Lady of Fátima, in Alfragide. José Ornelas Carvalho was elected

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart on 27 May 2003, after having served as the

Provincial Superior A provincial superior is an officer of a religious institute (including religious orders) acting under the institute's Superior General. A provincial superior exercises general supervision over all the members of that institute in a territorial ...

of the Dehonian Portuguese Province. He was in the position until 6 June 2015.

Episcopate

He was appointed Bishop of Setúbal on 24 August 2015, by

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 ...

, succeeding Gilberto Canavarro dos Reis; he received his episcopal consecration on 25 October 2015 from the 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 ...

in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace, in

. Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Leiria-Fátima on 28 January 2022. He was installed there on 13 March.

Allegations of cover-up of sexual abuse cases

In October 2022, it was reported that José Ornelas is being investigated by the Portuguese Attorney General's Office on suspicion of "participation in the cover-up" of cases of sexual abuse of minors. The case allegedly happened in 2011, in Mozambique, when José Ornelas was a high-ranking representative of the Dehonians (Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), a congregation to which the priest who ran the orphanage where the abuse allegedly occurred belonged.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carvalho, Jose Ornelas 1954 births 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Portugal Living people People from Machico, Madeira Dehonian bishops