Bishop of Mossoró
Bishop Francisco de Sales Alencar Batista, O.Carm., was born on 17 April 1968 in Araripina, diocese of Salgueiro, in the State of Pernambuco. He carried out his studies in philosophy at the Salesian Institute of Philosophy (INSAF) in Olinda-PE and in theology at the Milltown of Theology and Philosophy in Dublin, Ireland. He was awarded a licentiate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty and Pontifical Institute of Spirituality “Teresianum” in Rome. He gave his religious vows in the Order of Carmelite Friars on 24 January 1988, and was ordaind a priest on 29 November 1995. He has held the following offices: formator of philosophy students; counsellor and then provincial prior of the Carmelite Province of Pernambuco; vice-prior of the Community of the Sant’Alberto International Centre in Rome; secretary general in Rome; rector of the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Recife-PE, and parish priest. On 8 June 2016 he was appointed bishop of Cajazeiras, and received episcopal ordination on the following 14 August. He has served as secretary and is currently president of the Regional Nordeste 2 of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, which comprises the ecclesiastical circumscriptions of the States of Alagoas, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte.