Bishop of Campo Maior
Benedito Araújo is Bishop of Campo Maior, Piauí, Brazil. Incardinated in the Archdiocese of São Luís, Maranhão, he was ordained a deacon on 29 June 1991 and a priest on 17 November of the same year. In March 2011, then Pope Benedict XVI appointed him coadjutor bishop of Guajará-Mirim, Rondônia. He received episcopal ordination in June of that year, in São Luís, and took possession of the diocese in December. Before the episcopate he had broad activity in the Archdiocese of São Luís, especially in the formation of seminarians and in vocational animation. He was vocation promoter, rector of the Curé d'Ars Vocational Center and of Santo Antônio Archdiocesan Seminary, as well as archdiocesan pastoral coordinator. He also served as parish priest in the parishes of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré in Cohatrac, Sagrada Família in Maiobão, and Divino Espírito Santo in the Liberdade neighborhood. He taught in private schools in the Maranhão capital and at the Maranhão Theological Center in the areas of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue, Sacraments, and Theology of Religious Traditions. Bishop Benedito also belonged to the Presbyteral Council, the College of Consultors, and the National Association of Presbyters (ANP), and collaborated with several pastoral ministries at the regional level, including the Land Pastoral Ministry, Youth Ministry, and the Regional Commission for Ecumenism (COREC). In the Northwest regional of the CNBB, he also served as executive secretary.