Bishop of Aveiro
He was born in the village of João Pires—in the municipality of Penamacor, district of Castelo Branco, and Diocese of Guarda—on May 17, 1956. He attended the diocesan seminaries of Fundão and Guarda and was ordained a priest on April 8, 1982, beginning his pastoral ministry as a parochial vicar for the parishes of São Vicente and São Miguel in Guarda. In 1987, he was appointed parish priest—as part of a priestly team—for the parishes of São Miguel (Guarda), Alvendre, Avelãs de Ambom, Rocamondo, and Vila Franca do Deão. In 1996, he became the spiritual director of the Major Seminary of Guarda, while simultaneously providing pastoral care to the parishes of João Antão, Santa Ana d’Azinha, and Panoias. In 2006, again as part of a priestly team, he was appointed parish priest of the Cathedral (Sé) and São Vicente in the city of Guarda. Beyond his parish duties, throughout his thirty years as a priest, he served the Diocese of Guarda in various other capacities: he was responsible for the Departments of Catechesis for Children and Adolescents and for Church teaching in schools; he served as director of the Diocesan Secretariat for Christian Education, Pastoral Coordinator, and diocesan assistant to the Vincentian Conferences; and he was a member of the Presbyteral Council, the Episcopal Council, and the Pastoral Council. On September 3, 2005, he was appointed General Assistant of the League of the Servants of Jesus (Liga dos Servos de Jesus)—a public association of the faithful founded in 1924 by the Auxiliary Bishop of Guarda, Dom João de Oliveira Matos—and in 2006, he became the vice-postulator for the beatification and canonization process of that Servant of God. Between 1984 and 1986, he pursued a licentiate degree in theology, specializing in catechetics, at the San Dámaso Higher Institute of Theology in Madrid (affiliated with the Pontifical University of Salamanca); from 1994 to 1996, he attended classes at the Higher Institute of Pastoral Studies in Madrid, completing his doctorate in pastoral theology in 1997 with the thesis "Portuguese Catechisms for Children and Adolescents (1953–1993)." Since 1987, he served as a professor of catechetics at the Major Seminary of Guarda and as a professor of pastoral theology at the Beiras and Douro Higher Institute of Theology, based in Viseu. Among his various publications, those dedicated to catechesis and the training of catechists stand out: 1991 – as a member of the team that developed the catechisms for the national catechesis program, *Jesus gosta de Mim* (Jesus Likes Me – 1st year) and *Estou com Jesus* (I Am with Jesus – 2nd year); 1998 – *Guia de leitura do Diretório Geral de Catequese* (Reading Guide to the General Directory for Catechesis); 1998 – *Os catecismos portugueses da infância e adolescência de 1953-1993* (Portuguese Catechisms for Childhood and Adolescence, 1953–1993); 2003 – *A catequese na Diocese da Guarda* (Catechesis in the Diocese of Guarda); 2006 – *Procuramos o rosto de Deus* (We Seek the Face of God) and *Celebramos o encontro com Cristo* (We Celebrate the Encounter with Christ). He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Braga on June 8, 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI, with the title of Titular Bishop of Cabarsussi; he received episcopal ordination on August 12, 2012, at the Cathedral of Guarda, in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, with Bishops Manuel da Rocha Felício and Archbishop Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga serving as co-consecrators. He chose as his episcopal motto: "Jesus must reign" (1 Cor. 15:25).