Rui Saraiva – Portugal

On the morning of December 3rd, the appointment of Dom José Manuel Garcia Cordeiro as the new Archbishop of Braga in Portugal was published. Since July 2011 he was bishop of Bragança-Miranda. He will replace D. Jorge Ortiga, who had presided over that archdiocese since 1999.

D. José Cordeiro is 54 years old and was born on May 29, 1967, in Vila Nova de Seles, Angola. He moved to Parada, Alfândega da Fé, in Portugal, with his family in 1975 and attended the Minor Seminary of the Diocese of Bragança-Miranda. He was admitted to the Major Seminary and pursued his philosophical-theological studies at the headquarters in Porto of the Catholic University of Portugal.

He was ordained a priest on June 16, 1991 and was incardinated in the diocese of Bragança-Miranda. From 1991 to 1999 he was parish priest, trainer at the Diocesan Seminary and Chaplain of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança.

In 1999, Bishop José Cordeiro began his journey in Rome by attending the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselmo. In 2001 he obtained a degree in Liturgy and in 2004 a doctorate.

From 2001 to 2005 he was vice-rector of the Pontifical Portuguese College in Rome, having been rector from 2005 to 2011. From 2004 to 2011 he was professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselmo.

On July 18, 2011 he was appointed Bishop of Bragança-Miranda, receiving his Episcopal Ordination on October 2, 2011. Since 2016 he has been a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Within the scope of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, he has been President of the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and Spirituality since 2014.

This appointment takes place after D. Jorge Ortiga presented his resignation to the Pope, after turning 75 years of age, in March 2019, following the determinations of Canon Law.

The person in charge will exercise the functions of apostolic administrator, to “ensure the ordinary government of the Archdiocese of Braga”, until his successor takes office.

Braga, as a diocese, dates back to the 3rd century, and is one of the three metropolitan archdioceses of Portugal, Braga, Évora and Lisbon. The Archbishop of Braga uses the title ‘Primaz of Spain’.

The current diocesan territory has 2857 square kilometers, limits that do not coincide with the civil limits of the District of Braga.

The Archdiocese of Braga is found by 551 parishes serving approximately 850,000 inhabitants.