De Mendonça José Tolentino

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, currently Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, was born in Funchal, Madeira Island, on 15 December 1965. He studied at the UCP in Lisbon, where he obtained a Licentiate in Theology in 1989. Ordained priest on 28 July 1990, he then obtained a Licentiate in Biblical Sciences at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1992. In 2004, he completed a doctorate summa cum laude in Biblical Theology at the UCP in Lisbon. After his initial ministry in Funchal, he moved to Lisbon, serving as UCP chaplain. He was Rector of the Portuguese Pontifical College in Rome and Professor of New Testament and Theological Aesthetics at UCP Lisbon from 2004 to 2018. He has directed study centres and academic journals, and has been UCP Vice-Rector since 2012. An expert on the relationship between literature and theology, he has published numerous works and has been a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2011. In 2018, Pope Francis chose him to preach spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia. On 26 June 2018, he was appointed Archivist and Librarian of Holy Roman Church and elevated to Archbishop. He received episcopal ordination on 28 July 2018 and began his tenure at the Vatican on 1 September 2018. Pope Francis created him a Cardinal in the Consistory of 5 October 2019. He held the position of Archivist and Librarian until 26 September 2022, when he was appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.