Is Brazil due a ‘metropolitan makeover’?

Pope Francis has a tendency to pass over candidates in their 60s in favor of less-experienced and lower-profile bishops in their 50s

Over the past two years, Pope Francis has made a string of appointments to major archdioceses worldwide.

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rafael Rabello de Barros via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The nominations have followed a clear pattern: the pope has passed over candidates in their 60s in favor of less-experienced and lower-profile bishops in their 50s. 

The appointees, often described as “Pope Francis bishops,” are expected to remain in post for well over a decade, ensuring that the Argentine pope’s influence continues to be felt far into the future.

Countries that have experienced a “metropolitan makeover” in recent years include Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Honduras, the Philippines, Spain, and the U.S.

The appointees include: 

• Archbishop José Vicente Nácher, 58 years of age when he was named Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in January 2023. 

• Archbishop Frank Leo, 51 when he was appointed Archbishop of Toronto, Canada, in February 2023.

• Archbishop Jorge Ignacio Garcia Cuerva, 55 when he was named Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in May 2023.

• Cardinal José Cobo Cano, 57 when he was appointed Archbishop of Madrid, Spain, in June 2023.

• Archbishop Luc Terlinden, 54 when he was named Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels in June 2023. 

• Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcona, 53 when he was named the new Archbishop of Caceres, in the Philippines, in February this year.

• Archbishop Gherardo Gambelli, 54 when he was appointed Archbishop of Florence, Italy, in April.

• Archbishop-elect Richard Henning, 59 when he was named Archbishop of Boston Aug. 5.

At least one Catholic powerhouse is notably absent from the list: Brazil. But change could also be coming soon to the nation with the world’s largest number of Catholics.

 An aging hierarchy

There are roughly 123 million Catholics in Brazil, served by 217 dioceses and 45 archdioceses and more than 300 active bishops. 

A handful of prelates leading prominent metropolitan sees are about to reach the typical retirement age of 75 at roughly the same time.

Consider this:

• Cardinal Odilo Scherer, the Archbishop of São Paulo, an archdiocese serving more than 5 million Catholics, will turn 75 on Sept. 21. 

• Archbishop Alberto Taveira Corrêa, the head of the Archdiocese of Belém do Pará, which serves more than 2 million Catholics, turns 75 on May 26, 2025.

• Cardinal Orani João Cardinal Tempesta, who has led the Rio archdiocese since 2009, turns 75 on June 23, 2025.

• Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, the Archbishop of Manaus, will turn 75 on Nov. 6, 2025.

Add in also:

• At the age of 78, Archbishop Orlando Brandes is well past retirement age but still leading the Archdiocese of Aparecida, home to the famed Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida.

If Pope Francis so wished, he could make five major new appointments in Brazil in the coming year or so, significantly reshaping the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, arguably one of the world’s most influential bishops’ conferences.

The calculus of change

But the question is whether Francis wants to. After all, the pope has a practice of keeping metropolitan archbishops in place well beyond their 75th birthdays.

Prelates in this category include:

• Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella, 78, the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain.

• Cardinal Oswald Gracias, 76, the Archbishop of Bombay, India.

• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, 79, the Archbishop of Vienna, Austria.

• Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez, 79, the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba.

• Archbishop J. Michael Miller, 78, the Archbishop of Vancouver, Canada.

• Cardinal Vincent Nichols, 78, the Archbishop of Westminster, England. 

These churchmen remain in post for various reasons, including generally good health, the lack of an obvious successor, and closeness to Pope Francis.

Among the Brazilian Church leaders approaching 74, Cardinal Scherer is said to have an excellent rapport with Francis, suggesting the pope may be in no hurry to replace him.

There are up-and-coming figures in the Brazilian Church who could fill vacant metropolitan sees. 

The most obvious is Archbishop Jaime Spengler, 63, the current Archbishop of Porto Alegre, who has had something of meteoric rise thanks to his election as president of Brazil’s bishops’ conference in April 2023 and president of CELAM — the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council — a month later.

But the delicate historical relationship between Argentina and Brazil may cause Pope Francis to think twice about a dramatic overhaul of the Brazilian hierarchy.

Francis sought to establish good relations with Brazilian Catholics from the outset of his pontificate in 2013, when he made his first foreign trip to Rio for World Youth Day.

But he has put the occasional foot wrong, such as when he joked that he would not bless Brazilians because they drink too much cachaça (a fiery spirit) — a quip that caused offense in some quarters.

Then again, Pope Francis may find irresistible the prospect of choosing candidates who can carry forward his legacy for decades to come in Belém, Rio, and São Paulo.