The Salesian Cardinals

Don Bosco’s Sons Who Became Cardinals
Abp. Virgilio do Carmo da Silva

(ANS – Rome – Sept. 29, 2023) – The ANS review of the sons of Don Bosco who became cardinals concluded the day before the Salesian Rector Major was created cardinal. The last Salesian before him to be created cardinal was the Timorese Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, who at 55 years of age is currently one of the youngest members of the college of cardinals.

Virgilio do Carmo da Silva was born on November 27, 1967, in the town of Venilale in the eastern part of the colony of Portuguese Timor, today the Democratic Republic of East Timor.

He received primary and secondary education at the Colegio de Dom Bosco in Fatumaca, where he obtained his diploma. Feeling that his priestly vocation to the priesthood was maturing, he entered the Salesian Society shortly after high school. He made his novitiate in Fatumaca, and there he professed first vows on May 31, 1990; then he was sent to Manila, Philippines, to study philosophy and theology, until his perpetual profession, which took place in Parañaque on March 19, 1997.

At the end of his formation, he received priestly ordination on December 8, 1998. Immediately afterward, he was entrusted with his first assignment as master of novices in East Timor, a role he carried out for 5 years. In 2004 he was appointed treasurer of the house of formation and assistant pastor in his native Venilale.

In 2005 he moved to Rome for a 2-year stay at the Salesian Pontifical University, at the end of which he obtained a degree in spirituality. Returning to his homeland, he became master of novices again in 2007 and, from 2009, also director of the Salesian community and Don Bosco Technical High School in Fatumaca, holding both roles until 2014.

He was delegate for the Association of Mary Help of Christians for the Salesians in East Timor from 2007 to 2015, and for formation from 2013 to 2016). In 2015 he was appointed superior of the Salesian vice province of East Timor, holding the position until his promotion to the episcopate, which took place on January 30, 2016, when Pope Francis appointed him as the fourth bishop of Dili.

He received episcopal ordination on the following March 19, in the protected area of Tasitolu, by the imposition of hands of Joseph Salvador Marino, titular archbishop of Natchitoches and apostolic nuncio to East Timor, and took possession of the diocese during a subsequent ceremony held in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Dili. As his episcopal motto he chose Ad Deum Patrem Omnipotentem (To God the Father Almighty).

In his pastoral ministry he has committed himself, among other things, to promoting the relaunching of religious tourism, to give the country's fragile economy a new boost.

On September 11, 2019, Pope Francis erected the ecclesiastical province of East Timor, elevating the diocese of Dili to a metropolitan see; at the same time, therefore, Bp. Carmo da Silva became its first archbishop.

On May 29, 2022, at the end of the Regina Caeli, Pope Francis announced his creation as a cardinal, which then took place in the consistory on the following August 27. He is currently a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.