Orani João Tempesta (; born 23 June 1950) is a Brazilian 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 ...

who has been archbishop of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

since 2009. He was previously bishop of

São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located in the northwestern region of the state, approximately from the city of São Paulo and from Brasília ...

from 1997 to 2004 and archbishop of

Belém do Pará Belém (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Par ...

from 2004 to 2009.

Early years

Tempesta was born in

São José do Rio Pardo São José do Rio Pardo is a municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 55,124 (2020 est.) in an area of 419 km2. The elevation is 676 m. It was founded by Colonel Antônio Marçal Nogueira de Bar ...

in the

State of São Paulo State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. He is the youngest son of the Italian immigrant Achille Tempesta and his Brazilian wife Maria de Oliveira. After completing his elementary and lower secondary-school studies in São José do Rio Pardo, Tempesta entered the Cistercian Monastery of São Bernardo in the same city in 1967. He studied philosophy at the Monastery of São Bento (St. Benedict) in São Paulo, and theology at the Salesian Theological Institute of Pope Pius IX in São Paulo. Tempesta made his religious profession as a monk on 2 February 1969 and was ordained a priest on 7 December 1974. He was appointed

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of the monastery in 1984, while also acting as parish priest of the Parish of São Roque, as Diocesan Coordinator of Communications and Pastoral Care, and as professor at the Coração de Maria institute in São João da Boa Vista. In September 1996, when the Monastery of São Bernardo was raised to the status of an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

, he was elected its first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Bishop

On 26 February 1997, Tempesta was appointed Bishop of São José do Rio Preto and received episcopal consecration on 25 April of that year. In addition he was Apostolic Administrator of the territorial abbacy of Claraval from 1999 until it was united with the Diocese of Guaxupé on 11 December 2002. On 13 October 2004 Tempesta was appointed the Archbishop of Belém do Pará, and in 2007 he was a delegate to the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin American and the Caribbean. On 27 February 2009 Tempesta was named Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. He took possession of the see on 19 April 2009. Tempesta received the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...

from Pope Benedict on 29 June 2009. Tempesta is the Grand Prior of the Rio de Janeiro Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Cardinal

Pope Francis announced in January 2014 that he would make Tempesta a cardinal on 22 February 2014. He was made a cardinal priest and assigned the titular church of . In September 2014, he was appointed 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 ...

, and later of the

Congregation for Catholic Education The Congregation for Catholic Education (Institutes of Study) () was the pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or non-ecclesiastical depende ...

, and the

Pontifical Council for the Laity The Pontifical Council for the Laity was a pontifical council of the Roman Catholic Curia from 1967 to 2016. It had the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity in lay ecclesial movements or individually, and their ...

. In 2016, Cardinal Tempesta had to shelter behind his car during a gun battle between police and armed bandits. He was on his way to the airport when shooting forced his car to stop. "When he firingsubsided a bit, we reversed and took another street," Cardinal Tempesta told blog Sim, sou Católico. "I could see there with me, so many good people with the desire to live in peace in a more peaceful and fraternal world. Many were going to work, and suddenly needed to guard against any possible stray bullet," Cardinal Tempesta said later. Tempesta participated as a

cardinal elector 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 ...

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 ...

that elected

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 ...

References

External links

*
Orani João Tempesta
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tempesta, Orani Joao 1950 births Living people People from São José do Rio Preto Brazilian people of Italian descent Cistercian abbots Cistercian bishops Members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Cistercian cardinals 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Brazil 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Brazil Brazilian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Francis Members of the Congregation for Catholic Education Members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity Roman Catholic archbishops of Belém do Pará Roman Catholic archbishops of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro Roman Catholic bishops of São José do Rio Preto People from São José do Rio Pardo 20th-century Christian abbots Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Grand Priors of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Early years

Bishop

Cardinal

See also

References

External links