Alexandre José Maria dos Santos (18 March 1924 – 29 September 2021) was a Mozambican Roman Catholic cardinal. He was the first native cardinal of Mozambique.
Ecclesiastical career
Dos Santos was born in Zavala, Mozambique. He studied in Nyasaland and Lisbon before being ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1953, becoming the first black Mozambican to receive the distinction.[1] In 1973 he became the first African to run a seminary in Mozambique.[2] He was archbishop of Maputo, between 1975 and 2003. On 26 June 1988, he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, and given the titular church of San Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali.[3] He was instrumental in the peace process surrounding the end of the Mozambican Civil War.[1] He did not participate in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, because he was over the age limit by then.
References
- 1.[1.2]Darch, Colin (2018). Historical Dictionary of Mozambique. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-5381-1135-2. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- 2.Morier-Genoud, Éric (2019). Catholicism and the Making of Politics in Central Mozambique, 1940-1986. Boydell & Brewer. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-58046-941-8. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- 3.Cardinal Title S. Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali GCatholic.org