Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar was born in Leça do Balio, in the Porto metropolitan area, on 12 December 1973. Unusually for a future cardinal, he began in electoral politics: he served on the city council of Matosinhos from 1994 to 1997 as a member of the Socialist Party, an engagement he has called “great fun.” After seminary in Ermesinde and Porto he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Porto on 8 July 2001, and rose quickly: parish priest, secretary to the bishop, and vicar general of Porto from 2004. A master's in communication sciences followed in 2014; from 2017 he presided over the board of Rádio Renascença and directed the Portuguese bishops' secretariat for social communications.
On 1 March 2019 Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of Lisbon; consecrated on 31 March 2019, he was then the youngest bishop in Portugal. His defining assignment was the Fundação JMJ, the body organising World Youth Day in Lisbon (1–6 August 2023). The gathering drew well over a million young people to Lisbon and was widely judged a triumph of organisation.
On 9 July 2023 Francis announced he would make Aguiar a cardinal; he was created on 30 September 2023, with the title of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana, the College's second-youngest member. Days earlier Francis had named him Bishop of Setúbal; he was installed on 26 October 2023. He voted in the conclave of 2025. His motto is In manus Tuas — “Into Your hands.”
Consequential Quotes
It has to do with youth, it has to do with Portugal, it has to do with World Youth Day.
It was great fun.
I wish WYD Lisbon 2023 to be from and to all the people and that it can mean an opportunity to renew the hope in the post-pandemic period.
We don't want to convert the young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church or anything like that at all.
WYD has never been, is not, nor should it ever be an event for proselytism; on the contrary, it is and should always be an opportunity for us to get to know each other and respect each other as brothers.
Major Works & Initiatives
World Youth Day Lisbon
As president of the Fundação JMJ he organised the August 2023 gathering of more than a million young Catholics.
Bishop of Setúbal
Fourth bishop of the diocese south of Lisbon, installed 26 October 2023.
Rádio Renascença
Presided over the board of the Church's national broadcaster while directing the bishops' communications.
Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon
Portugal's youngest bishop at his consecration.
Controversies
“Not to convert young people to Christ” (2023)
In a July 2023 interview, Aguiar said the purpose of World Youth Day was not “to convert young people to Christ or to the Catholic Church,” framing the event as encounter and fraternity across faiths. The remark drew criticism from the faithful, clergy and media, and made headlines through the Lisbon gathering.
The minors commission handover (2023)
Aguiar chaired the Lisbon Patriarchate's Commission for the Protection of Minors until March 2023, when the Portuguese Episcopal Conference decided only laypeople should serve on such bodies, in the wake of the independent report on abuse in the Portuguese Church.