Bishop Vilson Basso

Bishop Vilson Basso, Bishop of Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil, is a Dehonian religious of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He was born on 16 February 1960 in Tuparendi, Rio Grande do Sul. On 2 February 1985 he made perpetual profession as a religious, and on 28 December 1985 he was ordained a priest in Nossa Senhora da Saúde Parish in Cinquentenário, Tuparendi, Rio Grande do Sul. One month after ordination, he was sent as a missionary to Maranhão. In 1986 and 1987 he was parochial vicar in Santa Inês and adviser for youth pastoral ministry in the Diocese of Viana. From 1988 to 1993 he was parochial vicar in Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Monte Castelo Parish and adviser for youth pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of São Luís-MA. In 1993 he was pastor at São Francisco de Assis Church in Alto Alegre do Pindaré-MA. In 1991 he specialized in pastoral planning at the Javeriana University of Bogotá, Colombia, also studying Spanish. From 1991 to 1993 he was adviser for youth pastoral ministry of Maranhão, CNBB Regional Nordeste 5. From 1994 to 1998 he was national adviser for youth pastoral ministry, living at the CNBB headquarters in Brasília. He was pastor of Santa Luzia Parish, MA, from 1998 to 2004, where a church was built that soon after was declared the Diocesan Shrine of Santa Luzia. He was pastoral coordinator of the Diocese of Viana from 1998 to 2002, and in 2004 he was transferred to São Luís do Maranhão, where he was pastor and helped create the Nossa Senhora da Conceição Shrine in Monte Castelo, remaining there until the end of 2005. Sent to be a missionary in the Philippines, in 2006 he studied English in the United States and arrived in the Philippines on 12 December of the same year. He studied Cebuano, an indigenous language spoken in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, and later worked as parochial vicar in Kumalarang. From 2008 to 2010 he was formator in the seminary of the Dehonian fathers in Cagayan de Oro City and pastor in Dansolihon, serving 29 indigenous communities. On 19 March 2010 he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Caxias do Maranhão. Having been ordained bishop on 30 May, he assumed the pastoral service of the diocese on 19 June 2010. From 2014 to 2017 the Diocesan Shrine of São Francisco das Chagas was built in São João do Sóter. His episcopal motto is Ecce Venio Domine, Here I am, Lord. On 19 April 2017 Bishop Vilsom was transferred to the Diocese of Imperatriz-MA, taking possession on 10 June of the same year. Bishop Vilsom was a member of the Episcopal Pastoral Commission for Youth of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil from 2011 to 2015 and president of the commission from 2015 to 2019. In 2018 he participated in the Synod on Youth and in 2019 in the Synod on the Amazon, held in Rome, at the Vatican. He participated as a catechist in the World Youth Days, JMJ's, of Madrid in 2011, Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Poland in 2016, Panama in 2019, and Portugal in 2023. Since 2010, in the Catholic Church in Maranhão, Bishop Vilsom has been the reference bishop for youth, and in 2023 he returned once again as president of the Episcopal Pastoral Commission for Youth of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, CNBB, for the years 2023-2026, being elected by the bishops in voting at the 60ª General Assembly of the CNBB.