José Freire Falcão (; 23 October 1925 – 26 September 2021) was 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 was archbishop of

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

from 1984 to 2004. He was created a

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 ...

in 1988.

Biography

José Freire Falcão was born on 23 October 1925, in

Ererê Ererê is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Ceará Ceará (CE) is a state located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. According to the 2022 census conducted by the Braz ...

in the state of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

. He entered the seminary in

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

at the age of 14. He was ordained a priest on 19 June 1949. He was teaching at the seminary and leading the diocesan liturgy commission when, on 24 April 1967,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

named him titular bishop of Vardimissa and bishop coadjutor of

Limoeiro do Norte Limoeiro do Norte is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencie ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on 17 June and succeeded as bishop on 19 August. He was transferred to the Archdiocese of Teresina on 25 November 1971.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him archbishop of

on 15 February 1984 and created him a cardinal on 28 June 1988, assigning him as a cardinal priest to San Luca a Via Prenestina. He retired as archbishop of Brasília upon the appointment of his successor on 28 January 2004. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2005 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the fourth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Josep ...

that elected

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 ...

. On 17 September 2021, Falcão was admitted to hospital as a precaution after being diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. On 24 September, the Archdiocese of Brasília announced Falcão's health had deteriorated, that he was intubated and in grave condition after suffering kidney and respiratory complications. He died from complications of the virus on 26 September 2021, at the age of 95. His Funeral

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

and burial in the crypt of the cathedral took place the next day.

References

External links

* * * 1925 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Brazil Brazilian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II People from Ceará Roman Catholic archbishops of Brasília Roman Catholic archbishops of Teresina Roman Catholic bishops of Limoeiro do Norte Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Federal District (Brazil) {{Brazil-RC-archbishop-stub