| Styles of José Cardoso Sobrinho |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | none |
José Cardoso Sobrinho (born June 30, 1933 in Caruaru) is the Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the cities of Olinda and Recife in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.
He joined the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1957 and was appointed bishop of Paracatu in 1979. Sobrinho is the successor of Don Helder Camara and had the task of un-doing the influence of liberation theology in that region of Brazil.[1]
In 2009, Sobrinho excommunicated, or rather declared excommunicated (since according to canon law, latae sententiae excommunication is automatic), the mother and doctors of a 9 year-old girl for carrying out an abortion on the girl's twin fetuses, after she was raped by her own stepfather, something that had been happening since she was six years old.[2] The affair shocked the Brazilian government and provoked disgust from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Speaking for the Holy See, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re defended the action. [3]
Regarding his statement that excommunication had been incurred, Sobrinho stated:[4]
"The law of God is higher than any human laws. When a human law -- that is, a law enacted by human legislators -- is against the law of God, that law has no value. The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication."
A letter written by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was released in the aftermath of the controversy in order to re-affirm Church teaching on procured abortion and assure the public that this teaching had not changed and could not be changed. [5]
His resignation was accepted having reached the canonical age limit after turning 75 in 2008. His successor is Antônio Fernando Saburido, previously Bishop of Sobral. [1]