Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Mário Antônio da Silva, 59, as the new Archbishop of Aparecida. The archdiocese is significant because it
houses Brazil's National Shrine.
Born on October 17, 1966, he was ordained a priest on December 21, 1991, for the Diocese of Jacarezinho. Benedict XVI appointed him as Auxiliary Bishop of Manaus in 2010. Francis promoted him to Bishop of Roraima in 2016 and to Archbishop of Cuiabá in 2022.
He is President of Caritas Brazil.
Monsignor da Silva participated in the Amazon Synod in October 2019. He was among the drafting committee responsible for preparing the Synod's final document.
Wisdom of the Indigenous and Hugging Trees
In October 2019, during the Amazon Synod, Bishop da Silva used all of Francis’ buzzwords. The Synod provided an opportunity to “listen to the voice of the Amazon” and to open “new paths” for the Church and integral ecology. He also supported the concept of “ecological conversion”.
He called the Synod “an opportunity to get in touch with life, forests, water, animals, minerals, but especially communities that are filled with wisdom”.
Openness to Married Priests
He said that during the Synod “new proposals have emerged due to the need to move forward and respond to the theme of the Synod - new paths.”
Bishop da Silva referred to “the possibility that mature, responsible, married men who are recognised within their communities may be ordained.”
Other proposals are, he added, female priesthood and the Amazonian rite.
Supportive Towards Amazonian Rite
He pushed for an Amazonian liturgy: “It is a rite that has not only liturgical heritage, but is liturgical, disciplinary, theological and spiritual, like so many other rites in the Catholic Church. It is a rite of the Catholic Church. It is a proposal that is in progress and under consideration,” he told VaticanNews.va during the Amazon Synod.
Defending Funds from the Pro-Abortion Ford Foundation
At the 2019 Synod's press conference, a journalist mentioned that the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) is funded by the Ford Foundation, which supports abortion.
In response, Bishop da Silva said that the funds are used to promote the lives of children, women, and families.
“Jesus Was a Migrant”
During the same press conference, Bishop da Silva explained that Francis “invites us, as a Church, to be capable of welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants.”
He added in an interview to TV Aparecida on Youtube.com: “Because Jesus was also a migrant.”
In May 2018, he told VaticanNews.va about migration: "Open your hearts to welcome with tenderness, your arms to embrace with affection, and your eyes to see the dignity of sons and daughters of God."
In May 2019, ReligionDigital.org quoted Bishop da Silva as saying: "Welcoming migrants ... becomes an action with political and social significance ... revealing true living pages of the Gospel."
Francis "Cared for Dialogue and Mercy"
After Pope Francis's death in 2025, Archbishop da Silva issued a note praising his "proximity to the people," "dialogue and mercy," "care for the poor," and "synodal orientation."
Bishop da Silva also uses the strange Francis' cross bearing the supposed symbol of the Good Shepherd with crossed arms. It can be traced back to the pro-homosexual Cardinal Louis Bernardin (1928–1996) of Chicago.
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