Orani João Tempesta OCist

Orani João Tempesta was born on 23 June 1950 in São José do Rio Pardo, in the Diocese of São João da Boa Vista, Brazil. After finishing high school he entered the Cistercian Monastery of São Bernardo in 1967, studied philosophy at the São Bento Monastery in São Paulo and theology at the Pius IX Salesian Theological Institute in São Paulo, made his religious profession on 2 February 1969, and was ordained a priest on 7 December 1974. In 1984 he became prior of his monastery, while also serving as parish priest of São Roque in São José do Rio Pardo, coordinator of communications and diocesan pastoral work, and professor at the Coração de Maria seminary in São João da Boa Vista. In September 1996, when the Monastery of São Bernardo became an abbey, he was elected its first abbot.

On 26 February 1997 he was appointed Bishop of São José do Rio Preto and was consecrated bishop on 25 April 1997. On 13 October 2004 he was appointed Archbishop of Belém do Pará, and in 2007 he participated as a director in the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean at Aparecida. In the Brazilian Episcopal Conference he served as president of the National Commission for Culture, Education and Social Communications and as a member of its Permanent, Pastoral and Economic Councils. On 27 February 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. In that capacity he welcomed Pope Francis to Rio in July 2013 for World Youth Day, and in October 2014 he participated, by papal appointment, in the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family.

Pope Francis created him cardinal in the consistory of 22 February 2014, assigning him the titular church of Santa Maria Madre della Provvidenza a Monte Verde. He is a member of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He participated as a cardinal elector in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.