Filomeno Vieira Dias

Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias (born 18 April 1958) is an Angolan prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Luanda since 2015; he was an auxiliary bishop there from 2003 to 2005. He was Bishop of Cabinda from 2005 to 2014, where his lack of identification with the province and its separatist movement initially made his appointment controversial and he was only installed after sixteen months.

Family background Vieira Dias belongs to a well-known Angolan family with strong links to the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

Formation and early career

Vieira Dias studied in the Capuchin minor seminary in Luanda and in the major seminary of Cristo Rei in Huambo. He earned a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Urban University, a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Lateran University and a licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He studied journalism in Luanda and at the Catholic University of Paris. He also has a diploma in juridical-administrative practices from the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome. He was ordained a priest on 30 October 1983.

Following his ordination, Dias worked as a parish vicar and as pastor to various local religious communities; rector of the minor and major seminaries of Luanda; vice-rector of the Catholic University of Angola; a lecturer in philosophy, fundamental theology, African history, African philosophy, contemporary philosophy, and theological ethics. He served on several diocesan committees and was a member of the Jacques Maritain International Association for development studies. and he was consecrated a bishop on 11 January 2004.

Bishop of Cabinda

On 11 February 2005, Vieira Dias was appointed Bishop of Cabinda by John Paul II. His personal ties to Cabinda were limited to a period as a parish minister early in his career. His predecessor, Paulino Fernandes Madeca, was known to be sympathetic to the Cabindan separatist cause. In Vieira Dias's absence, Eugenio Dal Corso, then the bishop of Saurímo, was sent to Cabinda in July to become apostolic administrator of the diocese. On 18 July, he was beaten while preparing to celebrate mass at the church of the Immaculate Conception and had to be taken to the hospital. Dal Corso responded by shutting the parish and suspending its pastor, Fr. Jorge Casimiro Congo. After local priests, including Cabinda's vicar general Fr. Raul Tati, protested against this move by writing to the Vatican with a request for Dal Corso's resignation, Dal Corso dismissed Tati from his position. Many Cabindan clergy went on strike in solidarity with the suspended priests and refused to celebrate mass.

Papal nuncio Giovanni Angelo Becciu emphasized that Vieira Dias's nomination was a matter of papal prerogative and would not be revoked. He came to Cabinda in order to meet with Dal Corso, and while he held a “fraternal” meeting with Cabindan priests, his meeting with laypeople was "hostile"

Pope Francis named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture on 29 March 2014.

Archbishop of Luanda

On 8 December 2014, Pope Francis appointed Vieira Dias archbishop of Luanda. Local observers disputed the significance of his personal ties to the dos Santos government. He continued as Apostolic Administrator of Cabinda from the time of his assignment to Luanda until the installation of his successor in Cabinda, Belmiro Cuica Chissengueti, on 7 October 2018.

The Angola government was reportedly upset that in October 2019 Pope Francis did not make the 61-year-old Angola native Vieira Dias a cardinal, choosing instead the 80-year-old Italian missionary Eugenio Dal Corso, bishop emeritus of the Angolan dioceses of Saurímo and Benguela.