Born in
Cocos, Oliveira de Azevedo was
ordained to the
priesthood on 9 September 1977, serving in
Juiz de Fora. On 21 January 1998, he was appointed
auxiliary bishop of
São Salvador da Bahia and
titular bishop of
Caliabria. Oliveira de Azevedo received his
episcopal consecration on the following 10 May from
Lucas Cardinal Moreira Neves, archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia, with the archbishop of
Juiz de Fora,
Clóvis Frainer, and the bishop of
Luz,
Eurico dos Santos Veloso, serving as
co-consecrators. On 28 January 2004, he was appointed
Archbishop of Belo Horizonte. He was installed on the following 26 March.
Pope Benedict XVI named him a member of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 22 September 2009. On 28 July 2010 he also became bishop for the Brazilian
ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite.
Pope Francis named him a member of the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches on 19 February 2014. On 6 May 2019 he was elected president of the
Episcopal Conference of Brazil. He has held these positions in the Conference: • 1999-2003 Member of the commission for the Doctrine of the Faith • Since 2003 Chairman of the commission for the Doctrine of the Faith • 2007 Representative for the fifth general conference of the
Latin American Episcopal Conference in
Aparecida • Chairman of region
Leste 2 of the
Brazilian Bishops conference • 2019–2023 Chairman of the
Brazilian Bishops conference == Principal consecrator ==