Education
Pontifical Gregorian University.
archbishop bishop cardinal priest university professor
Pontifical Gregorian University.
At the time of the conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013, his name was mentioned as a possible candidate for election to the papacy. Braz de Aviz was ordained a priest 26 November 1972. He began his ministry as a parish priest in the diocese of Apucarana, as Rector of the Major Seminary Apucarana and Londrina, and as professor of dogmatic theology at the Theological Institute Paul VI in Londrina.
As a young priest Braz de Aviz was once on his way to a village to say Mass when he stumbled upon an armored car robbery.
He was caught in the crossfire and shot, with bullets perforating his lungs and intestines and one eye. He survived and surgeons were able to save his eye, he still carries fragments of those bullets in his body.
On 6 April 1994, he was appointed to the titular bishop of Flenucleta as auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Vitória and received episcopal consecration on 31 May of that year. He was transferred as ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponta Grossa on 12 August 1998 by Pope John Paul World War II He was promoted to archbishop of Maringá on 17 July 2002 where he served until he was appointed archbishop of Brasília on 28 January 2004.
In May 2010 he organised the XVI National Eucharistic Congress, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the city"s founding.
He is the fourth Brazilian to head a Vatican department. In July 2011, he referred to a breakdown in trust between the Vatican and many religious orders because of "some positions taken previously", referring to his predecessor, Cardinal Franc Rode, who decried a "crisis" in religious life following the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) which he believed to have fostered excessively liberalizing currents in some communities of religious. Braz said that he recognizes there are problems, but his main aim is to "rebuild trust" by approaching issues in a new way, "without preemptive condemnations" and "by listening to people"s concerns."
On 6 January 2012 the Vatican announced that Braz de Aviz would be created a cardinal on 18 February.
He was created Cardinal-Deacon of Sant"Elena fuori Porta Prenestina.
In the spring of 2013, at the time of the conclave thet elected Pope Francis, the name of Braz de Aviz was mentioned as a possible candidate for election to the papacy.
He said in an interview that "Personally, I lived with a lot of anguish during the years of the birth of liberation theology". He said he appreciated that liberation theology promoted the preferential option for the poor, which represents "the church"s sincere and responsible concern for the vast phenomenon of social exclusion." He said consecrated men and women need to explore more deeply the mystery of God to strengthen their relationships with others
Quotations: "the church"s sincere and responsible concern for the vast phenomenon of social exclusion.".
He was also member of the Council of Priests and the College of Consultors and General Coordinator of the Diocesan Pastoral Apucarana. On 4 January 2011, Braz de Aviz, not a member of a religious order, was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. On 21 April 2012 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for Catholic Education.
On 16 December 2013 he was named a member of the Congregation for Bishops by Pope Francis.