Arlindo Homem / Ecclesia Agency
José Tolentino Mendonça
Madeiran priest is one of the most talked about names and appears very well placed on a platform created by Vaticanists to become the most influential religious leader in the world. It is one of 22 “papers” on the list.
The Portuguese cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça is considered one of the most likely names to succeed Pope Francis in the leadership of the Catholic Church.
On a platform made by Vaticanists, (“The College of Cardinals: A Review”), created to vote for the next Pope, the Madeiran 59 years old stands out among 140 cardinal voters.
The cardinal, by Pope Francis, appears in the 22 “papable” cardinals of the publication that offers unprecedented access to the profiles of the cardinalate of the Catholic Church.
Tolentino de Mendonça, born in Funchal in 1965, spent his formative years in Angola. He was elevated to bishop on July 28, 2018, in a ceremony at the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon, symbolically receiving the former episcopal see of Suava, in North Africa.
Just over a month later, on September 1, the also poet and lover of literature assumed responsibility for the Vatican’s Secret Archive and by the oldest library in the worldthe Apostolic Library, with the concern of preserving “a great treasure of the Church and of humanity”.
It is seen as a modernist voice within the Catholic Church, a wing where publishing has established itself as an important figure.
His influence increased further in 2022, when Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
Tolentino studied theology at the Portuguese Catholic University, where he obtained a doctorate in biblical theology. Ordained in 1990, his pastoral work in Madeira was brief, as his academic and ecclesiastical ambitions soon took him to Lisbon and beyond.
Over the decades, he served in academic roles such as Vice-Rector and Rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and international positions, such as visiting professor in Brazil and fellow at New York University.
