José Maria Pires


José Maria Pires was a Brazilian bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Pires was the oldest living Catholic bishop in Brazil at the time of his death at age 98.

Biography

Pires was born in Córregos, Brazil and was ordained a priest December 20, 1941. Pires was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Araçuaí on May 25, 1957 and consecrated on September 22, 1957, becoming the first black bishop in the history of Catholic church in Brazil.
On December 2, 1965, Pires was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Paraíba until his retirement on November 29, 1995. He died in Belo Horizonte on 27 August 2017, at the age of 98, due to a respiratory failure caused by pneumonia.

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