Américo Aguiar

Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar (born 12 December 1973) is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church who has been appointed bishop of Setúbal after serving as an auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Lisbon since 2019. He headed the organization responsible for planning World Youth Day in August 2023.

Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 30 September 2023; he became the second youngest member of the College of Cardinals.

Biography
Américo Aguiar was born in Leça do Balio in Matosinhos in the Porto metropolitan area on 12 December 1973. He participated in electoral politics in his youth in both Matosinhos and the neighboring municipality of Maia, working with members of the city council in both. He served on the City Council of Matosinhos from 1994 to 1997 as a member of the Socialist Party. He has called his political engagement "great fun" (divertidíssimo).

After completing middle school, he entered the seminary in Ermesinde and then studied at the major seminary of the Diocese of Porto and the Porto section of the Portuguese Catholic University.

He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Porto on 8 July 2001 by Armindo Lopes Coelho, Bishop of Porto.

He served as parish priest of São Pedro de Azevedo (Campanhã) from 2001 to 2002; special secretary to the bishop of Porto, Armindo Lopes Coelho, and parish priest of the cathedral from 2002 to 2004; and vicar general of the diocese from 2004 to 2006. In 2014 he earned a master's degree in communication sciences from the Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon.

He was president of the administrative board of Rádio Renascença (Lisbon) from 2017 while continuing to provide pastoral services in Porto. In 2017 he became national director of the Secretariat of Church Social Communications and head of the Episcopal Commission for Culture, Cultural Assets and Social Communications. He led the diocese's Fellowship of Priests from 2011 to 2019.

On 1 March 2019, Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and titular bishop of Dagno. He received his episcopal ordination from the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, at the Santissima Trindade Church in Porto on 31 March 2019. He was then the youngest bishop in Portugal. In January 2023, he praised the funeral Mass for Pope Benedict XVI, saying it balanced Benedict's desire for simplicity with the significance of the occasion.

He led the Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons of the Patriarchate of Lisbon until March 2023, when the Portuguese Episcopal Conference decided that only laypeople should serve on such bodies. He heads Fundação da JMJ, the body responsible for organizing World Youth Day in Portugal on 1–6 August 2023.

On 9 July 2023, Pope Francis announced he plans to make him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September. Aguiar will be the second youngest cardinal. He said his appointment "has to do with youth, it has to do with Portugal, it has to do with World Youth Day" rather than himself. That this results in two active cardinals from the see of Lisbon has been called "a genuine novelty" and provoked speculation about his future in the Roman Curia. At that consistory he was made cardinal priest of Sant'Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana.

Pope Francis named him bishop of Setúbal on 21 September 2023. He was installed there as the fourth bishop of Setúbal on 26 October.

Controversies
In July 2023, being responsible for World Youth Day 2023, he declared in an interview that the purpose of the event was not "to convert young people to Christ".

The comment sparked a wave of criticism from the faithful, members of the clergy and the media.