38 Facts About Odilo Scherer

When Odilo Scherer submitted his resignation as required at the age of 75, Pope Francis asked him to serve for two more years.

Odilo Scherer has been described as "an intellectual with great command of finance and economics" and "on the bookish side".

Odilo Scherer eschews the politics and language of liberation theology, but preaches and practices an evangelism devoted to the suffering of the poor and open to lay participation and charismatic movements.

Odilo Scherer was born on 21 September 1949 in Cerro Largo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Odilo Scherer was the seventh of eleven children born to Edwino and Francisca Scherer, part of the German Brazilian community.

Odilo Scherer studied philosophy at the Studium Theologicum, part of the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana in Curitiba.

Odilo Scherer worked as parochial vicar and parish priest of the Cathedral Parish of Cristo Rei in Toledo from 1985 to 1988.

Odilo Scherer then taught philosophy at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Parana from 1985 to 1994 and theology at the Paulo VI Theological Institute in Londrina in 1985.

Odilo Scherer earned his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome between 1988 and 1991.

Odilo Scherer was rector of the Maria Mae da Igreja Seminary in Serra in 1993.

Odilo Scherer received his episcopal consecration on 2 February 2002 from Cardinal Claudio Hummes, with Archbishop Armando Cirio and Bishop Anuar Battisti as co-consecrators.

Odilo Scherer was elected to a four-year term as secretary general of the CNBB in May 2003.

Odilo Scherer was installed there on 29 April 2007, becoming ex officio the Grand-Chancellor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo.

Odilo Scherer was described as a "moderate" like his predecessor Cardinal Hummes.

Odilo Scherer then served from 2007 to 2011 as a member of the CNBB's commission for doctrine, and since 2007 has served continuously as a member of the CNBB's permanent council.

Odilo Scherer greeted Pope Benedict upon his arrival and accompanied him on much of his visit to Brazil from 9 to 13 May 2007, which was limited to the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo.

Odilo Scherer was elevated to the College of Cardinals in the consistory held on 24 November 2007.

Odilo Scherer was assigned to the order of cardinal-priests with the title of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale.

Odilo Scherer's service ended when Francis replaced four of the five members on the commission in January 2014 after less than a year as pope.

Odilo Scherer was elected to the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

Odilo Scherer participated in the October 2014 synod as a member of its general council.

Odilo Scherer joined in the October 2015 synod as one of the elected representatives of Brazil's bishops.

Odilo Scherer was named to the presidential council of the Pontifical Council for the Family on 31 January 2009.

Odilo Scherer was appointed to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on 8 October 2009.

Odilo Scherer has periodically objected to legal developments with respect to abortion in Brazil.

Odilo Scherer has opposed attempts to enforce more restrictive concepts of the separation of church and state, arguing that traditional expressions do not represents attempts to establish or privilege one religion and have little impact on non-believers.

In 2009, Odilo Scherer argued that removing crucifixes in public places would not be in the best interests of Brazilian secularism.

When Pope Benedict established the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization in June 2010, Odilo Scherer explained it was meant to address a global "evangelization deficit" and underscore the Church's mission.

Odilo Scherer was president of one of the CNBB's regions, the State of Sao Paulo, from 2011 to 2015.

Odilo Scherer was mentioned in the international media as a possible contender to succeed Benedict, and he received some votes.

Odilo Scherer spoke at the meetings preceding the conclave in defense of the curial officials whom other cardinals had criticized.

In 2016, during the health crisis caused by the Zika virus, Odilo Scherer spoke frankly about the use of contraception.

Where his colleague Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner emphasized that Pope Francis' endorsement of contraception for disease prevention did not represent a change in the Church's prohibition against birth control, Odilo Scherer said: "Couples know very well how to prevent an undesired pregnancy", and added that the Church already gives "a lot of space to the personal decision" to prevent conception.

Odilo Scherer noted that the Church backed it since 2013, years before local politicians, so the mayor of Sao Paulo Joao Doria, who took office in 2017, was joining the work of the archdiocese rather than winning support from the Church.

Since May 2019 Odilo Scherer has been the representative of the CNBB to the Episcopal Conference of Latin America and in May 2019 he was elected to a four-year term as vice president of CELAM.

In March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Odilo Scherer initially kept churches open in his archdiocese, scheduling more frequent liturgical celebrations to reduce the size of the gatherings and recommending that the elderly and those at risk attend virtually.

On 25 October 2023, Odilo Scherer was named to a four-year term as one of 21 members of CELAM's Center for Information and Research Management.

Odilo Scherer submitted his resignation as archbishop as required when he turned 75 in September 2024.