Find out who D. Rui Valerio is, the bishop chosen by Pope Francis as Patriarch of Lisbon.

The new Patriarch of Lisbon, Rui Valeriu, was the first Monfortian-related Portuguese priest to be ordained a bishop in November 2018, heading the diocese of the military and security forces ever since.

At the age of 58, Rui Manuel Sousa Valerio was born in Urqueira, in the municipality of Ourem, near the Sanctuary of Fatima, on Christmas Eve 1964.

At the age of 11 he entered the seminary of Monfortino, in Fatima, where he studied, becoming a novice in 1984, in Santermo in Colle, Bari, Italy, and made his first religious confession on September 6, 1985. years later he made eternal vows and in 1991 was ordained as a priest in Fatima.

Rui Valerio studied philosophy at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and also studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he received a degree in dogmatic theology in 1992.

In Leuven, Belgium, from 1995 to 1996 he attended a course in missionary spirituality at the Monfortino International Center and in 1997 he completed his doctoral thesis in theology at the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.

His association with the armed forces, now ending due to his new appointment, began in 1992 as a chaplain at the Hospital da Marinha, and in 2008 he was appointed as a chaplain at the Naval Academy.

He passed through parishes in Castro Verde, in the diocese of Beja and in the Patriarchate of Lisbon, and also worked for several years in the formation of novices of the Monfort missionaries.

In 2016, he was appointed “Missionary of Charity” by Pope Francis for the jubilee year.

In recent years, he has repeatedly emphasized the role of the Portuguese military as peacekeepers in the international missions in which they participate, and also praised the work of the security forces.

He was also concerned about the issue of sexual abuse of minors in the church.

At this year’s World Mass, the prelate, in front of military chaplains, called sexual abuse of minors “a real punch in the stomach” perpetrated by “unworthy members of the Church.”

“Our heart (…) is full of bitterness. The drama of the war, in which Ukraine has been involved for more than a year, barbarously attacked by Russia, Europe and the world, is joined by bad news, now confirmed by testimonies and evidence of heinous abuses committed by unworthy members of the Church against innocent and defenseless victims,” he said at the ceremony held at the Igreja da Memória in Lisbon, the Cathedral of the Castrense Ordinariate.

Now, at the age of 58, Rui Valeriu becomes the 18th Patriarch of Lisbon.