Background
Zilli was born in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo State.
Zilli was born in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo State.
He has been the Roman Catholic bishop of the newly created Diocese of Bafatá in Guinea-Bissau since 2001. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on 5 January 1985. He was sent shortly after to Guinea-Bissau, where he was parochial vicar at Bafatá mission.
He was also deputy of the bishop for the Cacheu zone.
On 13 March 2001, Zilli was appointed the first bishop of the Diocese of Bafatá when it was created from the Diocese of Bissau. He was ordained on 30 June 2001.