Angola’s first and only Cardinal, Dom Alexandre do Nascimento, died this Saturday. He was 99 years old and was hospitalised in one of Luanda’s hospitals. Dom José Manuel Imbamba, President of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), spoke of the profound legacy of Cardinal Nascimento, considered by many to be a humanist, a man of charity and a promoter of peace and reconciliation.
Until Saturday 28 September, the date of his death, he was considered the oldest member of the College of Cardinals.
He was born on 1 March 1925 in Malanje, Angola. He would have celebrated 100 years of life and 50 years as a bishop in 2025. The Angolan Church was preparing for the great jubilee.
His vocational trajectory is linked to the political trajectory of Angola under colonial rule, marked by the struggle for national liberation until independence. As a result of this and his work in defence of rights in Angola since 1957, the Portuguese colonial authority forced him to settle in Lisbon, where he returned ten years later and where he studied civil law at the University of Lisbon.
Dom José Manuel Imbamba, President of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), speaks of the profound legacy of Cardinal Nascimento, who many consider to be a humanist, a man of charity and a promoter of peace and reconciliation.
The name of Angola’s first Cardinal is associated with the political community, the creation of the Catholic University of Angola, the reopening of Rádio Ecclesia, Angola’s Catholic Broadcaster, as well as the resumption of several important infrastructures built in the country.
The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, has already mourned the death of Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento with ‘deep consternation’.
In a message of condolence, the Angolan Head of State wrote that Angola, the Homeland, has lost one of its most distinguished sons, a good man who devoted a large part of his life to passing on to his people values and principles for a life of dignity, forgiveness and respect for others.
And more recently, during the inauguration of the Cardeal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento Cardio-pulmonary Diseases Hospital Complex, a tribute by the Angolan state to this son of the Church and of Angola, President João Lourenço described the Cardinal as a true patriot.
He studied at the Bângalas Seminary, then at the Malange Seminary and later at the Luanda Seminary. In 1948, he was sent to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a licentiate in theology.
He was ordained a priest on 20 December 1952. Soon after, he became a professor of dogmatic theology at the Archdiocesan Major Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Luanda and editor-in-chief of the Catholic newspaper ‘O Apostolado’ between 1953 and 1956.
On 10 August 1975, he was appointed Bishop of Malanje and ordained on 31 August 1975. On 15 October 1982, during the civil war, he was kidnapped during a pastoral visit by militants from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
Pope John Paul II appealed for his freedom during the Angelus on Sunday 31 October; he was released the following 16 November.
On 5 January 1983, his creation as a cardinal was announced by Pope John Paul II at the Consistory of 2 February.
He was transferred to the Archdiocese of Luanda on 16 February 1986, resigning from the pastoral government of the archdiocese on 23 January 2001 as Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Luanda – Angola.
He lost the right to participate in conclaves at the age of 80, on 1 March 2005.
He was also president of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé between 1990 and 1997.
He has a degree in Theology from the Gregorian University (Rome) – Italy, and in Civil Law from the Classical University of Lisbon – Portugal.
He was elected President of Caritas International in 1983 and re-elected in 1987. He was a member of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Congregation for Catholic Education. He has several international awards, including an honorary doctorate in Jurisprudence from the University of Lisbon and the award of the Gold Medal of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic (2000) in recognition of his work in the defence of human rights.
At the invitation of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, he attended several historic events relating to the Angolan peace process, namely in Lusaka (1994) and Brussels (1995).
He has published several works, including:
- ‘Man without Faith – its possibilities and limits – according to Francisco Suarez’ (essay);
- ‘On Beauty and Morality – Letter to the New’;
- ‘How I read the Book of Ruth – exegetical commentary’ (1981);
- ‘The Constitutional Experience of Modern Italy’ (1968);
- Paths of Hope’ (1992);
- ‘Book of Rhythms’ (poetry) and,
- Discourses and Images’ (2002).
Source: Vatican News