Orani João Tempesta (; born on 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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

who has been archbishop of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

since 2009. He was previously bishop of

São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located at the northwest portion of the state, 440 km (273 mi) from the city of São Paulo and 700 km (435 mi) from Brasília. As o ...

from 1997 to 2004 and archbishop of

Belém do Pará Belém (; 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 a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in ...

from 2004 to 2009.

Early years

Tempesta was born in São José do Rio Pardo in the

State of São Paulo State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. 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 Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

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 Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

, he was elected its first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

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 A territorial abbey (or territorial abbacy) is a particular church of the Catholic Church comprising defined territory which is not part of a diocese but surrounds an abbey or monastery whose abbot or superior functions as ordinary for all C ...

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 metropol ...

from Pope Benedict on 29 June 2009.

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 A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

, and later of the

Congregation for Catholic Education , type = Congregation , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , picture =Via della Conciliazione din Roma1.jpg , picture_caption = Palazzo delle Congregazioni in Piazza ...

, and the Pontifical Council for the Laity. 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 firing He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

subsided 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.

References

External links

*
Orani João Tempesta
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tempesta, Orani Joao 1949 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

Early years

Bishop

Cardinal

See also

References

External links