Good news for the fraternity: our brother Mauricio da SILVA JARDIM, from the fraternity of Brazil, has been appointed Bishop of Rondonópolis-Guiratinga (Mato Grosso) by Pope Francis.
Mauricio was born in Sapucaia do Sul, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, on February 9, 1969. He entered the seminary at the age of 21, being ordained a priest on December 11, 1999 in the parish of Nossa Senhora de Fátima de Sapucaia do Sul, incardinating himself in the clergy of the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, capital of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
He was parochial vicar and parish priest, adviser to Youth Ministry, vocation animator and spiritual director of the Preparatory Seminary of the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre. He has also been a missionary in Mozambique, as he is a specialist in missiology.
He was appointed national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies of Brazil (POM) in 2016. The position and responsibility have led him until 2021 to carry out great work in coordination and animation in the Brazilian Church: a missionary and evangelizing spirit. All this in order to an outgoing Church, a nearby Church, Samaritan and in the peripheries.
In November 2012, at our world assembly in Paris, I chose him for the international team of our priestly fraternity Iesus Caritas, as a brother from Latin America. Working with him until January 2019, and with Jean-François, Emmanuel, Mark and our dear Félix, has been a very positive experience of brotherhood and teamwork.
Mauricio joins the list of Brazilian bishops of the fraternity, along with Jeová and Silvio lately, and Edson, Eugénio and others. It is a great joy, therefore, for all the brothers of the world. May his ministry, in the order of the successors of the apostles, be marked by the call to always be at the side of the poorest, in his diocesan Nazareth, always listening to priests, laity, other Christian groups and those who are far away. of the church. He will be consecrated bishop in Porto Alegre, on August 19, 2022. Our prayers, our joy and our best wishes. “Ad multos annos”.
Aurelio SANZ BAEZA,
priestly fraternity Iesus Caritas of Spain