“A great bishop, a great theologian”
by Stefania Falasca
On 23 December last Cardinal Aloísio
Lorscheider, Archbishop Emeritus of Aparecida, died in the San Francesco
Hospital in Porto Alegre. He was 83 years old. At the solemn funeral mass
Cardinal Odilo Scherer, Archbishop of San Paolo, recalled him as “a
precious point of reference for the service carried out in the Church,
admired for his intelligence and saintliness”. “A great bishop,
a great theologian”, he then described him, and emphasized his
compassion and simplicity. Lorscheider was one of the more eminent
historical figures in the Latin American episcopate. A Franciscan, born of
parents of German origin, in Estrela, Archdiocese of Port Alegre, on 8
October 1924, he was ordained priest in 1948. Having graduated in Dogmatic
Theology at the Antonianum of Rome in 1952, he taught this discipline in
the seminary of Divinópolis, in the State of Minas Gerais, until
1958. His consistent scholarly production persuaded the superiors of the
Order to call him back to Rome as teacher at the Pontifical Antonianum
Athenaeum. On 3 February 1962 he was nominated bishop of Santo Ângelo
and he remained in the Brazilian diocese for more than eleven years, giving
proof of his organizational abilities and pastoral dedication. He gave an
impulse to the seminary and to the mission, established a vital
relationship with the clergy and the faithful, undertook constant
visitations to the parishes when he would personally administer the
sacraments, including confession. He participated in Vatican Council II. He
was nominated Archbishop of Fortaleza in 1973, where he remained for nearly
nine years. He was created cardinal by Paul VI in the Consistory of 24 May
1976. From 1995 to 2004 he was Archbishop of Aparecida. He was a member of
the Theological Commission of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference, of which
he was subsequently elected President, a role in which he was reconfirmed
many times (1971-1978). Former vice- president of the Latin American
Episcopal Council, he became its president in the period 1976-1979,
succeeding Archbishop Pironio. He was President of the third General
Conference of the CELAM in 1979 in Puebla. He participated in the two
conclaves of 1978 that led to the election of John Paul I and of John Paul
II.