Cristiano Borro Barbosa
Cristiano Guilherme Borro Barbosa was born on October 11, 1976, in Adamantina, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, where he studied philosophy and psychology and earned a master's degree in psychology. He has recalled sensing a call to the priesthood at fourteen, at a charismatic gathering, when a song about Isaiah's call struck him personally. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bauru on December 22, 2007.
He came to Boston for doctoral studies at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, intending at first to return to Brazil, but parish work among immigrants changed his plans. He served parishes in Cambridge and Lowell, earned a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology, taught at Saint John Seminary in Brighton and at Pope Saint John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, and was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston in 2021. In July 2023 he became episcopal vicar for the Central Region and secretary for evangelization and discipleship.
Pope Francis named him an auxiliary bishop of Boston on December 9, 2023, and he was consecrated on February 3, 2024, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, continuing in his Central Region and evangelization roles. The second Brazilian-born bishop in the United States, he speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and his episcopal motto, Ut unum sint, means that they may be one. His public emphasis has been a church of encounter and attentive listening, especially for second- and third-generation Brazilian families who pray in Portuguese but think in English.
- 2021-07CONTEXT, NOT BARBOSA'S ACT: Catholic News Agency reports Boston among the archdioceses allowing priests already celebrating Mass according to the 1962 Missal to continue doing so. Barbosa was not yet a bishop; the position belongs to the then ordinary, Cardinal Sean O'Malley. ↗
- 2026-10-24INHERITED PROVISION, NOT BARBOSA'S ACT: Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, Newton, lists Traditional Latin Masses on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and names the extraordinary form as the 1962 Missal. The parish welcome attributes its blessing to Cardinal O'Malley; no act by Barbosa concerning the parish was found. ↗
<p>Bishop Barbosa has no governing act of his own on the 1962 Missal in this dossier, and none is invented for him. He was appointed auxiliary bishop on December 9, 2023, more than two years after Traditionis custodes, and no diocesan statement, decree, permission, appointment, or public letter by him concerning the older Missal was found in archdiocesan releases, The Boston Pilot, or national coverage searched on October 24, 2026. As an auxiliary he assists the archbishop; the authority to authorize the 1962 Missal in Boston belongs to the diocesan ordinary, not to him.</p>
<p>What Boston does have is inherited provision, and it is described as inherited, not as his work. In July 2021 Catholic News Agency reported Boston among the archdioceses allowing priests already celebrating Mass according to the 1962 Missal to continue doing so, a position taken under Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who was then archbishop. The one site evidenced as currently operating under the 1962 Missal is Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton, whose parish site, fetched October 24, 2026, lists Traditional Latin Masses on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and names the extraordinary form as the 1962 Missal, with a blessing attributed to Cardinal O'Malley.</p>
<p>The debts are stated plainly. No source gives a total count of 1962 Missal sites in Boston, so both site counts are null rather than guessed from named parishes; the Cathedral of the Holy Cross extraordinary-form listing in a 2021 bulletin was not re-verified for 2026 and is not counted; and the parish welcome text still names Cardinal O'Malley as archbishop although Archbishop Richard Henning succeeded him in 2024, so its blessing attribution is stale even though its schedule is current. On the evidence searched, Barbosa's posture is no_record at medium confidence.</p>