(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 5 – Brazilian ‘papabile’ Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, 75, is part of the group of 23 Latin American cardinals who will choose the next pope – with some chance of being elected in person, the bookies say.
A staunch ‘guardian’ of the Amazon and indigenous peoples, in line with Pope Francis’ environmentalist approach, he defends civil unions and highlights the “fundamental” role of women who must be increasingly involved in the church. His is, certainly, a more progressive approach to the future challenges of Catholicism.
The thirteenth of sixteen children of a Catholic family of immigrants of German origin, Steiner was born in the diocese of Criciúma seventy-five years ago. After attending a seminary run by the Franciscan fathers, he felt his vocation growing and entered the order of the Friars Minor, then in 1978 he became a priest. In the meantime he studied theology and philosophy, a subject in which he obtained a licentiate and doctorate also at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome (from 1995 to 2003 he was a professor and secretary of the university).
Returning to Brazil, in 2005 he was appointed first bishop prelate of São Félix and, six years later, titular bishop of Tisiduo and auxiliary of Brasilia. For eight years he held the position of secretary general of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference. A path that led him to the appointment, in 2019, as metropolitan archbishop of Manaus and in 2022 as cardinal, by will of Francis. Many of Steiner’s relatives have become priests or nuns: in addition to him, his cousin was also a cardinal.
During the years of the pandemic, faced with the denialism of the Bolsonaro government, Steiner avoids direct verbal confrontation and entrusts the church’s response to his actions: “The work that Catholics are doing in Manaus, bringing comfort and hope to the homeless, immigrants and poor, is fantastic”.
It is a very complicated period: Pope Francis is perfectly aware of this and calls the community of Manaus to encourage them and bring them comfort. From March 27, 2022, he becomes vice president of the ecclesial conference of the Amazon. A territory for which Bergoglio has also done a lot, so much so that the Brazilian cardinal will say of him: he has done “good” for the Amazon, for the church and for the world, he has given back to the church the primary meaning of the kingdom of God, that is, “being the kingdom of mercy” and “care”. (ANSA).
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A staunch ‘guardian’ of the Amazon and indigenous peoples, in line with Pope Francis’ environmentalist approach, he defends civil unions and highlights the “fundamental” role of women who must be increasingly involved in the church. His is, certainly, a more progressive approach to the future challenges of Catholicism.
The thirteenth of sixteen children of a Catholic family of immigrants of German origin, Steiner was born in the diocese of Criciúma seventy-five years ago. After attending a seminary run by the Franciscan fathers, he felt his vocation growing and entered the order of the Friars Minor, then in 1978 he became a priest. In the meantime he studied theology and philosophy, a subject in which he obtained a licentiate and doctorate also at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome (from 1995 to 2003 he was a professor and secretary of the university).
Returning to Brazil, in 2005 he was appointed first bishop prelate of São Félix and, six years later, titular bishop of Tisiduo and auxiliary of Brasilia. For eight years he held the position of secretary general of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference. A path that led him to the appointment, in 2019, as metropolitan archbishop of Manaus and in 2022 as cardinal, by will of Francis. Many of Steiner’s relatives have become priests or nuns: in addition to him, his cousin was also a cardinal.
During the years of the pandemic, faced with the denialism of the Bolsonaro government, Steiner avoids direct verbal confrontation and entrusts the church’s response to his actions: “The work that Catholics are doing in Manaus, bringing comfort and hope to the homeless, immigrants and poor, is fantastic”.
It is a very complicated period: Pope Francis is perfectly aware of this and calls the community of Manaus to encourage them and bring them comfort. From March 27, 2022, he becomes vice president of the ecclesial conference of the Amazon. A territory for which Bergoglio has also done a lot, so much so that the Brazilian cardinal will say of him: he has done “good” for the Amazon, for the church and for the world, he has given back to the church the primary meaning of the kingdom of God, that is, “being the kingdom of mercy” and “care”. (ANSA).
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