Francis Appoints a Brazilian to the “bishop Factory”

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
October 12, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/28550/


Francis’ game of musical chairs continues: the face of the Roman Curia is slowly changing under the new pontificate. A week or so ago the Pope transferred the Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, Lorenzo Baldisseri, to the General Secretariat of the Synod and is replacing him with Mgr. Ilson De Jesus Montanari from the Diocese of Riberao Preto. Until today Montanari had played a secondary role in the dicastery that oversees Episcopal nominations. The prelate, whom Pope Francis has known personally for about a year now, will now become Titular Archbishop of Capocilla and elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

With today’s nomination – a choice which has Francis written all over it – one of the minute takers of the dicastery led by Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet is promoted to number two position. Although in the last ten years apostolic nuncios tended to be chosen for the role, it has recently often been the case that the Congregation’s new Secretary did not hold the title of bishop at the time of his nomination. For example, Ernesto Civardi (the dicastery’s number two man from 1967 to 1979) and Battista Re (Secretary from 1987 to 1989 and Prefect in 2000) were not bishops when they were appointed to the position.

Montanari is not the first Brazilian clergyman to be given a top position in the Congregation for Bishops: Lucas Moreira Neves was Secretary between 1979 and 1987 and then after a decade as Archbishop of San Salvador de Bahia he returned to the Vatican as the “bishop factory’s” Prefect. Mgr. Montanari left Brazil and was called to work in the Congregation in the final years of Cardinal Re’s prefecture, continuing under Ouellet, Re’s successor.

Ilson de Jesus Montanari was born on 18 July 1959 in Sertaozinho, in the State of Sao Paulo, in the Diocese of Ribeirao Preto (Brazil). He studied law and economics in Brazil and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was a student at the Pius Pontifical Brazilian College (1985-1988). He was He was ordained priest on 18 August 1989 and joined the clergy of the Archdiocese of Ribeirao Preto.

He was nominated parish priest of the Sao Joao Batista parish in Sertaozinho on 3 September 1989. He taught theology at the research centre of the Archdiocese of Ribeirao Preto and the Archdiocesan Seminary of Uberaba (1990-1994). He was chancellor and then pastoral coordinator of the Diocese of Ribeirao Preto (1993-2002) and Episcopal Vicar. He has an ecclesiastical licence in dogmatic theology from the Gregorian University. He has held his post in the Congregation for Bishops since 2008.