José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça (born 15 December 1965) 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 ...

. A theologian and university professor, he is also regarded as one of the most original voices of modern Portuguese literature and a Catholic intellectual. His work includes poetry, essays and plays that he signs José Tolentino Mendonça. He was appointed prefect of the

Dicastery for Culture and Education The Dicastery for Culture and Education is an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. It began operations on 5 June 2022 as established by the apostolic constitution ''Praedicate evangelium'' promulgated on 19 March 2022. It was formed through th ...

and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology in September 2022. An

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

since July 2018, he was

Archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church from 2018 to 2022. Pope Francis created him

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 5 October 2019. Since 2020, he has been a member of the

Third Order of Saint Dominic The Third Order of Saint Dominic (; abbreviated TOP), also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Roman Catholic, Catholic third order which is part of the Dominican Order. As members of the Order ...

Biography

Family

The youngest of five children, de Mendonça was born on the island of

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 ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

on 15 December 1965. He spent his earliest years in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, in several coastal towns where his father was a fisherman. He left Africa at the age of nine when Portugal withdrew from its African colonies.

Priest and Academic

In 1989, he graduated with the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in theology from the

Portuguese Catholic University 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 ...

(UCP). He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Funchal, Madeira, on 28 July 1990. That same year he published his first book of poems, ''Os Dias Contados''. In 1992, he was awarded a master's degree in biblical sciences at the

Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Biblical Institute (also known as Biblicum) is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies located in Rome. Founded in 1909 by Pope Pius X, it is an institution of the ...

in Rome. In 2004, he earned a doctorate in biblical theology at the

(UCP). He has fulfilled pastoral assignments, first of all at the parish of Nossa Senhora do Livramento 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 ...

from 1992 to 1995, then as chaplain at the UCP for 5 years. He next served the parish of Santa Isabel in Lisbon and then became rector of the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Bonanza, better known as Capela do Rato, in 2010. On 4 August 2021, de Mendonça took his vows as a member of the

at a ceremony held at the São Domingos convent in Lisbon and presided over Mass following the ceremony in which he received the white habit. In his capacity as a member in the secular order, he does not possess any obligations towards the official Dominican hierarchy, but he commits to the charism of the Dominicans and to live in accordance with their vows. He made his initial rite of admission to and received the habit from Father José Nunes, the prior provincial for the Portuguese Dominicans. De Mendonça's assignments following his ordination included academic appointments as a lecturer at the diocesan seminary of Funchal, the rector of the Pontifical Portuguese College in Rome, and a lecturer at the Portuguese Catholic University. He was visiting professor the Catholic University of Pernambuco (Unicap), Brazil, the

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (; PUC-Rio) is a Jesuit, Catholic, pontifical university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the joint responsibility of the Catholic Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro and the So ...

and the Jesuit School of Philosophy and Theology of

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

(Faje). In Lisbon, he joined the UCP faculty as an assistant (1996-1999), assistant professor (2005-2015), and associate professor. The UCP appointed him Vice-Rector in 2012 and Dean of the Faculty of Theology in 2018. During the academic year 2011–12, he was a Straus Fellow at New York University, joining an international team of researchers working on the theme "Religion and Public Reason".

At the service of culture

De Mendonça was the first director of the National Secretariat of the Pastoral of Culture from 2004 to 2014, an institution created by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to promote dialogue between the Church and the broader cultural milieu of the country. After attending a meeting with

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 ...

bringing together a large number of artists in 2009, he said that the Pope's gesture of hospitality was appreciated. Benedict pointed out that "within the Church, within the Christian space, they have their home, a sort of homeland". In 2011 Benedict XVI appointed him a consultor of the

Pontifical Council for Culture The Pontifical Council for Culture () was a dicastery of the Roman Curia charged with fostering the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. It was erected by Pope John Paul II on 20 May 1982 and in 1993 he merged the Po ...

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 ...

reappointed him to this position in 2016. In 2018 Pope Francis invited de Mendonça to preach the Lenten Retreat of 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 ...

. Besides the Bible, his comments referenced many writers, such as

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa (; ; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, and publisher. He has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th c ...

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (, born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector (; ) December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her distinctive and innovative works delve into diverse narrative forms, weaving them ...

Françoise Dolto Françoise Dolto (; November 6, 1908 – August 25, 1988) was a French pediatrician and psychoanalyst. Biography Françoise Dolto was born as Françoise Marette, into an affluent, devoutly Catholic, royalist and Maurrassian family in Paris. He ...

, Etty Hillesum and

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

. He commented: "Sometimes writers are important spiritual masters." He also mentioned that he tells his biblical students that "a biblical scholar or a priest must see many movies, listen to a lot of music and get in touch with the arts world". These sermons were published under the title ''Elogio da Sede'' with a preface by Pope Francis. In January 2020, de Mendonça was part of the scientific commission for the 700th anniversary of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's death (1265-1321) organized by the

. In February 2020,

appointed de Mendonça as a member of the

, chaired by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. De Mendonça had been a consultor between 2011 and 2018. On 13 June 2020, de Mendonça is laureate of ''Prémio Europeu Helena Vaz da Silva'' because of "the ability he shows in spreading beauty and poetry as part of the intangible cultural heritage of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the world". Under the leadership of Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça, as part of the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Modern Art Collection of the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

, the Dicastery of Culture and Education is the main organiser of a meeting between Pope Francis and some two hundred representatives of the cultural world, artists, writers, composers, musicians, actors, architects, etc. from all over the world. This event, the first since 2009, when José Tolentino de Mendonça took part, takes place on 23 June 2023 in the Sistine Chapel. The participants include

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a retiredhttps://variety.com/2024/film/global/ken-loach-retirement-the-old-oak-jonathan-glazer-oscars-speech-1235956589/ English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist views ar ...

Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the United Ki ...

Andres Serrano Andres Serrano (born August 15, 1950) is an American photographer and artist. His work, often considered transgressive art, includes photos of corpses and uses feces and bodily fluids. His '' Piss Christ'' (1987) is an amber-tinged photograph of ...

and many others. Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça is the commissioner of the Vatican pavilion at the 60th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(20.04.2024-24.11.2024). The pavilion is being held in La Giudecca women's prison, which is still in operation. Eighty inmates are serving long sentences there, and some of them have agreed to guide visitors on their way to La Giudecca. Pope Francis, the first pope to visit the Venice Biennale, visits the pavilion on 28 April. De Mendonça has published numerous collections of essays, spiritual writings, poems and sermons under the name José Tolentino Mendonça. This work addresses the major themes of the Christian canon by placing them in dialogue with life. The relationship between Christianity and culture is at the heart of his writings. As a theologian and religious thinker, he has sought to discover spiritual life in places which have not always been looked at, and he has striven to encourage the Church to be more relevant and more engaged there. His books have been great successes in Portugal and are increasingly translated and published abroad. He has received numerous literary prizes and awards.

Bishop and cardinal

At the end of June 2018, Pope Francis named de Mendonça Vatican archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church as of 1 September and appointed him titular archbishop of Suava. On 28 July, Archbishop

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 ...

, Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated him a bishop assisted by Cardinal António Marto, Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, and Teodoro de Faria, Bishop Emeritus of Funchal who had ordained him a priest in July 1990. On 5 October 2019, Pope Francis made him a

Cardinal-Deacon 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 ...

and assigned him the church of Santi Domenico e Sisto in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He was made a member of the

on 21 February 2020. On 17 November 2020, Pope Francis appointed de Mendonça a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

presided over by Cardinal

Luis Antonio Tagle Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle ( , ; born June 21, 1957) is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church, and has been the Dicastery for Evangelization, Pro-Prefect for the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery fo ...

. On 30 April 2022, Pope Francis appointed de Mendonça a member of the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

, presided over by Cardinal

Marcello Semeraro Marcello Semeraro (born 22 December 1947) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints since October 2020. He was previously Bishop of Albano and secretary to the group of car ...

. On 13 July 2022, the Pope appointed 13 new members to the

Dicastery for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the congregation (Roman Curia), department of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require pope, papal app ...

, including 3 women. Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça is one of the 11 other members of this dicastery, whose prefect is Cardinal

Marc Ouellet Marc Armand Ouellet (; born 8 June 1944) is a Canadian Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America from 2010 to 2023. He is a member of the Sulpicians. Ouell ...

. On 26 September 2022, Pope Francis named him prefect of the

. On 7 September 2023, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça a member of the

Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...

, of which Cardinal Arthur Roche is the Prefect. On 1 June 2024, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça a member of the

Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

, of which Cardinal

Víctor Manuel Fernández Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández (born 18 July 1962) is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church and a theologian. He is currently the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He served as rector of the Pontifical Catholic Univ ...

is the Prefect. Prior to the death of Pope Francis, de Mendonça had been referred to as potentially ''

papabile ( , , ; plural: ; ) is an unofficial Italian term coined by Vaticanologists and used internationally in many languages to describe a Catholic man—in practice, always a cardinal—who is thought of as a likely or possible candidate to be ...

''—a possible future candidate for the papacy. He participated as a cardinal elector 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 ...

, which ultimately elected Robert Francis Prevost as

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 ...

Writings

in Portuguese

* ''Os dias contados'' (poetry, 1990) * ''As estratégias do desejo: um discurso bíblico sobre a sexualidade'' (essay, 1994) * ''Longe não sabia'' (poetry, 1997) * ''A que distância deixaste o coração'' (poetry, 1998) * ''Se eu quiser falar com Deus'' (1996) * ''Baldios'' (poetry, 1999) * ''Cântico dos Cânticos'' (1999) * ''De Igual para Igual'' (poetry, 2000) * ''A construção de Jesus: uma leitura narrativa de Lucas 7,36-50'' (essay, 2004) * ''A estrada branca'' (poetry, 2005) * ''Perdoar Helena'' (play, 2005) * ''Tábuas de pedra'' (poetry, 2006) * ''A noite abre os meus olhos'' (poetry, 2006) * ''Pentateuco'' (2006) * ''Bíblia ilustrada'' (4 books, 2007) * ''A leitura infinita. Bíblia e interpretação'' (essay, 2008) * ''O Viajante sem sono'' (poetry, 2009) * ''Histórias escolhidas da Bíblia'' (2009) * ''O tesouro escondido'' (essay, 2011) * ''Um deus que dança'' (prayers, 2011) * ''Pai-nosso que estais na terra'' (essay, 2011) * ''Nenhum caminho será longo'' (essay, 2012) * ''O hipopótamo de Deus'' (essay, 2013) * ''Os rostos de Jesus'' (2013) * ''A papoila e o monge'' (poetry, 2013) * ''O estado do bosque'' (play, 2013) * ''A mística do instante'' (essay, 2014) * ''A leitura infinita'' (essay, 2014) * ''Estação central'' (poetry, 2015) * ''Que coisa são as nuvens'' (a selection of the best stories published by the weekly Expresso, 2015) * ''Esperar contra toda a esperança'' (essay, 2015) * ''Desporto, ética e transcendência'' (essay, 2015) * ''A construção de Jesus'' (essay, 2015) * ''Corrigir os que erram'' (essay, 2016) * ''Teoria da fronteira'' (poetry, 2017) * ''Libertar o tempo. Para uma arte espiritual do presente'' (essay, 2017) * ''O pequeno caminho das grandes perguntas'' (essay, 2017) * ''Elogio da sede'' (essays delivered at the Lenten retreat preached before the pope and the

, 2018) * ''Requiem pela Aurora de Amanhã'' (libretto for a work composed by João Madureira marking the centenary of the end of World War I; it premiered on 20 July 2018 in the

Jerónimos Monastery The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery (, ) is a former monastery of the Hieronymites, Order of Saint Jerome near the Tagus river in the parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Belém, in the Lisbon Municipality, Portugal. It became the nec ...

in Belém.) *''Nos passos de Etty Hillesum'', with co-editor Filipe Condado (photos), (photobiography, 2019) * ''Uma Beleza que nos Pertence (Aforismos)'' (essay, 2019) * ''Palavra e Vida 2020 O Evangelho comentado cada dia''(commentary of each daily

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

of the year, 2019) * ''O que é amar um país'' (essay, 2020) * ''Rezar de olhos abertos'' (prayers, 2020) * ''Introdução a pintura rupestre'' (poetry, 2021) * ''A questão sobre Deus e o não saber '' (co-written with the architect Álvaro Siza Vieira) (essay, 2022) * ''Metamorfose necessária (Reler São Paulo)'' (essay, 2022) * ''O Centro da Terra'' (poetry, 2024) * ''A vida em nós (Aforismos)'' (essay, 2024)

in English

*''Hidden Treasure: The Art of Searching Within'' (Alba House, 2014) *''Our Father who Art on Earth: The Lord's Prayer for Believers and Unbelievers'' (Paulist Press, 2013) *''No Journey Will Be Too Long: Friendship in Christian Life'' (Paulist Press, 2015) *''Religion and Culture in the Process of Global Change: Portuguese Perspectives'', with co-editors Alfredo Teixeira, Alexandre Palma (Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change, Series VIII, Vol. 19, Council for Research in Values & Philosophy, 2016) *''Jesus and the Woman: Revealing God's Mercy'' (Paulist Press, 2017) *''Thirst: Our Desire for God, God's Desire for Us'' (Paulist Press, 2019), retreat preached before the Pope and the

during Lent 2018

Honours and awards

Honours

PRT Order of Prince Henry - Commander BAR

Commander of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

, 28 June 2001 * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Commander BAR

Commander of the

Military Order of Saint James of the Sword The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (), formerly known as the Ancient, Most Noble and Enlightened Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, of the Scientific, Literary and Artistic Merit (), is one of the four former ancient Portu ...

, 4 December 2015 *Medal of Merit of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, 14 November 2019. * On 27 March 2024, the Lisbon City Council unanimously decides to award the Medal of Honour of the City of Lisbon to Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça, a Portuguese personality of universal expression, with recognized contributions to peace and development *On 19 June 2024, in Lisbon, on the occasion of the presentation of the Pessoa 2023 Prize, awarded to Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça on 14 December 2023, the President of the Portuguese Republic,

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

, presented him with the Grand Cross of the

Coat of Arms

Awards

*Laureate of ''Prémio Cidade de Lisboa de Poesia'' (1998) *''PEN Clube Português'' Award (2005) *

Inês de Castro Inês de Castro (; in Castilian: Inés; 1325 – 7 January 1355) was a Galician noblewoman and courtier, best known as lover and posthumously recognized wife of King Pedro I of Portugal. The dramatic circumstances of her relationship with Pedro ...

Foundation Literary Award (2009) * Finalist of the

Casino da Póvoa Casino da Póvoa () is a casino located in Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. It is a gaming and entertainment venue since the early 1930s. Its building is designed in a Garnier-inspired modernist style and, since 1977, it is listed by IGESPAR, the P ...

Literary Award (2011) * Finalist of the

Literary Award (2015) * Literary Award ''Res Magnae'' (Italy, 2015) * Grand Award APE/CM of

Loulé Loulé () is a city and Concelho, municipality in the region of Algarve, Faro District, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2021, the population of the entire municipality was 72,373 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two p ...

- for "Que coisa são as nuvens" (2016) * Grande Poetry Award Teixeira de Pascoaes (2016) for "A noite abre os meus olhos" *''Capri-San Michele'' Special Award (Italy, 2017) *''A life of ... passion'' Award (Italy,

Avvenire (English: "Future") is a daily newspaper which is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is based in Milan, Italy. History and profile was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic newspapers: of Bologna and of Milan. The ...

, 2018) * Co-winner of the "Cassidorio il Grande" Prize (Italy, 2019) * Winner of

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

Award for spiritual literature and religious poetry (Italy, 2021) * "2022 D. Dinis Award" granted by the Casa de Mateus Foundation for "Introdução à pintura rupestre" (2023) * "2023 Francisco de Sá de Miranda Literature Award" for "Introdução à pintura rupestre" (2023) * "2023 LericiPea poetry Award" (Italy) for his work as a whole. * On 11 April 2025, Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça won the 21st edition of the Eduardo Lourenço Prize by unanimous decision of the jury. The prize recognises the cardinal's contribution to contemporary Portuguese culture and his role as an intellectual, humanist and poet.

Other honours

* Top 100 Most Influential Portuguese of 2012 by Expresso magazine (2012) * In June 2019, the weekly magazine of Expresso included de Mendonça on its list of the fifty "mighty, influent, innovative, provocative and eminent people who marked our life during the past year". * The editorial team at Expresso chose de Mendonça as their Portuguese personality of the year for 2019. *January 2020: de Mendonça is part of the scientific commission for the 700th anniversary of

's death (1265-1321) chaired by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. An initiative organized by the

. *

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

Award (2021) *The President of the Portuguese Republic,

, chooses Tolentino de Mendonça to preside over the ceremony marking

Portugal Day Portugal Day, officially Portugal, Camões, and Portuguese Communities Day (), is the national day of Portugal celebrated annually on 10 June. It is one of the public holidays in Portugal and celebrated by Portuguese people throughout the world ...

of 10 June 2020, the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities, at the

in Western Lisbon. * On 14 December 2021 Cardinal D. José Tolentino de Mendonça becomes an honorary member of the Portuguese Naval Academy in a ceremony presided over by the President of the Portuguese Republic,

* On 18 December 2022 the Cardinal wins the first edition of the Ilídio Pinho Grand Prize in a ceremony presided over by the President of the Portuguese Republic,

. The prize aims to honour personalities dedicated to the "promotion and defence of the universal values of portugality". * On 14 December 2023, the cardinal receives the Pessoa Prize, an initiative of the weekly magazine Expresso and the Caixa Geral de Depósitos to recognise the activities of living Portuguese people who have played a significant role in the country's cultural and scientific life. * On 15 December 2023, the

University of Aveiro The University of Aveiro () is a public university, in addition to providing polytechnic (Portugal), polytechnic education, located in the Portuguese city of Aveiro, Portugal, Aveiro. Founded in 1973, it has a student population of approximately ...

(Portugal) awarded an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

to cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça for his global vision of the world and his ability to bring a cultural dimension to the discussion of the problems of our time * On 25 January 2024, the Catholic University of Pernambuco (Unicap) in Brazil confers the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça, who has been known there since 2009: an itinerant professor, he has given courses and lectures there, and presented several of his books when they were published in Brazil. * On 22 August 2024, the Catholic University of Argentina awarded an

to cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça for his important ecclesiastical and academic work, his priestly and human pastoral activities, as well as his significant contribution to the fields of science, the arts, culture and education.

References

;Additional sources *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendonca, Jose Tolentino de 1965 births Living people People from Machico, Madeira 21st-century Portuguese cardinals Portuguese Roman Catholic writers Portuguese Roman Catholic theologians Catholic University of Portugal alumni Portuguese poets Cardinals created by Pope Francis Members of the Dominican Order Lay Dominicans Dominican cardinals Portuguese Dominicans Portuguese archivists Portuguese librarians