Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, S.J. (born 16 July 1958) is a Portuguese

Catholic 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 ...

priest and member of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. On September 1, 2016 he succeeded

François-Xavier Dumortier François-Xavier Dumortier, S.J. (born 4 November 1948) is a French Catholic priest and member of the Jesuits. He was rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1 September 2010 to 1 September 2016, when he was succeeded by Nun ...

as rector of the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

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, ...

. In October 2023, he succeeded Antonio Spadaro as editor of the Jesuit periodical ''

La Civiltà Cattolica ''La Civiltà Cattolica'' ( Italian for ''Catholic Civilization'') is a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome, Italy. It has been published continuously since 1850 and is among the oldest of Catholic Italian periodicals. All of the journa ...

''. He is the first non-Italian to hold this post.

Biography

Gonçalves was born 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 ...

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 16 July 1958 and entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) at a young age. He was ordained a priest on 12 July 1986. He was educated in Portugal and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, earning a licentiate 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 ...

and

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...

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 ...

, and a

licentiate in theology Licentiate may refer to: * Licentiate (degree), a degree below a PhD granted by universities in some countries; may indicate a medical doctor qualification in the UK and other countries. * Licentiate (Pontifical Degree), second cycle of ecclesiast ...

and both a licentiate and

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 ...

Church history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of t ...

from the Gregorian University in Rome. From 1998 to 1999 he was director of the national office for Cultural Heritage of 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 ...

. He was nominated dean of the Faculty of Philosophy for the Catholic University of Portugal in October 2000. In 2005, he left that position in become Provincial Superior of the Portuguese province of the Society of Jesus. He returned to the Gregorian in October 2011 first as director and then dean of the Gregorian's Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church. He has published studies on the missionary history of the Portuguese Church and on Jesuit history. On 21 March 2016,

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 ...

named him rector of the

as of 1 September. His term as rector ended on September 1, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Nuno da Silva 1958 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese Jesuits 21st-century Portuguese Jesuits Jesuit historians and chroniclers Pontifical Gregorian University rectors Clergy from Lisbon