Jose Martins
Portugal- Biography of Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
- Academic Career
- Ecclesiastical Career
- Conclave and Current Role
Biography of Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
Early Life and EducationJosé Saraiva Martins was born on January 6, 1932, in Gagoes Jarmelu, in the diocese of Guarda, Portugal. He was the sixth of eight children. He received his education initially in the congregation of the Claretians, taking his novitiate in Corvalos. He was ordained as a monk on August 22, 1950. He continued his education at the Pontifical Gregorian University (licentiate in theology) and the Angelicum (doctorate in theology) in Rome. He also studied at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and at the Free University of Gabrielle d'Annunzio (doctorate in philosophy) in Chieti. He is one of the most educated intellectuals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Academic Career
Martins was ordained as a priest on March 16, 1957, in Rome. From 1958 to 1959, Saraiva Martins taught metaphysics for a year in Marino, Italy, at the Claretian Major Seminary. He then became a professor of fundamental and dogmatic theology at the College of Claretians at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he taught for 10 years from 1959 to 1969. He later became a professor of sacred dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Urban University from 1969 to 1988. He served as the dean of the theological faculty from 1974 to 1977 and chaired the committee of deans of theological faculties in Rome from 1974 to 1977. He was the rector of the Pontifical Urban University for three terms from 1977 to 1980, 1980 to 1983, and 1986 to 1988. He also served as the chairman of the Committee of Pontifical Universities and Colleges in Rome from 1978 to 1983 and 1986 to 1988.
Ecclesiastical Career
On May 26, 1988, Martins was appointed as the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and titular archbishop of Tuburnica. He was ordained as a bishop on July 2, 1988, by Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Secretary of State of the Vatican, with the assistance of Jan Pieter Schotte, titular archbishop of Silly, the Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, and Giovanni Battista Re, titular archbishop of Vestkovo, the Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops. Ten years later, on May 30, 1998, he was appointed as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Martins was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001, with the title of Cardinal Deacon of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
Conclave and Current Role
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the papal conclave in 2005, which elected Pope Benedict XVI. He is close to the current pontiff and remains active in his role.
