António Marto

Marto was hospitalized in November 2020 with a liver infection and submitted his resignation on 5 May 2021 citing the "limitations of his physical and mental resources". Pope Francis accepted his resignation as bishop of Leiria-Fátima on 28 January 2022.

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marto called the view that the pandemic was God's punishment "unchristian", and further said that such views could only be justified through "ignorance, sectarian fanaticism, or madness". On 25 March, Cardinal Marto renewed the consecration of Portugal and Spain to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and added the names of twenty-four other countries (Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Slovakia, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Romania, Tanzania, East Timor and Zimbabwe) at the request of their respective episcopal conferences.

As the Portuguese Parliament tabled a vote on the decriminalisation of euthanasia in February 2020, Marto underlined his opposition, saying "no one could expect a servant of the Gospel to be against life." He affirmed that to the Church, human life was not subject to vote for its intrinsic value, however, as far as the legislative process was concerned, he was supportive of some sort of public consultation, like a referendum, so that the whole of society could be involved in the decision-making process: he cited other religious confessions that were opposed to it, as well as non-confessional organisations, such as the leadership of the Order of Physicians.

On 20 May 2018, Pentecost, Pope Francis announced he would make Marto a cardinal on 28 June. Marto learned of this as he was vesting for Mass at Leiria Cathedral: he noticed an unusual missed call from the apostolic nunciature and, worried that anything serious (like the Pope having died) had happened, he opened a voicemail with unexpected congratulations from Nuncio Rino Passigato on his appointment. He conducted the ceremony, in which he administered the sacrament of Confirmation to 60 youths, without commenting on the appointment; as Mass ended members of the congregation came to congratulate him while he was taking photographs with the newly confirmed.

On 25 August 2018, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former apostolic nuncio to the United States, released an 11-page letter describing a series of warnings to the Vatican regarding sexual misconduct by Theodore McCarrick, accusing Pope Francis of failing to act on these reports and calling on him to resign. Marto addressed this as "an ignoble organised attack" on Francis, meant to "call into question his credibility and to create division within the Church"; he urged the faithful to remember the message of Our Lady of Fátima on the importance of unity within the Church, and to commit to the "culture of care" of which the Pope spoke, to protect children and combat every form of abuse.

Pope Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Leiria-Fátima on 22 April 2006. In this capacity, he played host to two Popes in their visits to the Sanctuary of Fátima: Benedict XVI in 2010, and Francis in 2017. From 2011 until 2014, Bishop Marto was delegate of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union.

Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Braga on 10 November 2000, assigning him the titular see of Tamata, and he was consecrated a bishop on 11 February 2001. He chose as his episcopal motto "Servidores da vossa alegria" (Servants of your joy). John Paul II later appointed him as the Bishop of Viseu on 22 April 2004.

Cardinal Marto was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on 7 November 1971, while he was studying for his doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. At this time, he studied under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He concluded his doctoral thesis in 1978, titled Esperança Cristã e Futuro do Homem: Doutrina Escatológica do Concílio Vaticano II ("Christian Hope and the Future of Man: The Eschatological Doctrine of the Second Vatican Council").

He started his Theology studies in Vila Real, but in 1968 the course was transferred to the Major Seminary in Porto, by decision of the bishop. He graduated at age 22, two years before the minimum age for ordination. Captivated by the spirit of the French worker-priest movement, and because of the then-prevalent idea that industrial-class workers had become largely disaffected with the Church, António Marto and two colleagues took up labour for a year in a metalworking factory producing parts for vehicle engines. This aided them in gaining valuable insights on the issues affecting working class masses and the world of trade unions.

António Augusto dos Santos Marto GCC GCIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐ̃ˈtɔniu ˈmaɾtu]; born 5 May 1947) is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima from 2006 to 2022. Pope Francis elevated him to cardinal on 28 June 2018.

António Marto was born on 5 May 1947 in Tronco, a small village of roughly 500 population, in Chaves, rural Portugal. His family was traditionally Catholic, and of humble background. His father, Serafim Augusto Marto, was a Fiscal Guard and his mother, Maria da Purificação Correia dos Santos, a schoolteacher. António was the youngest of four siblings, two of which died before he was born at age 4 and age 6, respectively; the latter was crushed in a brutal accident when the axle of an ox cart broke on the way back from the grape harvest. The surviving sister married and had offspring. António was the product of an unintended but ultimately welcomed pregnancy.