Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias

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.

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

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 was installed on 24 January 2015. On 9 November 2015, he was elected president of CEAST. 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.

While bishop of Cabinda, Vieira Dias served as coordinator for Benedict XVI's 2009 visit to Angola.

At the beginning of December 2005, an accord for the resumption of the celebration of masses was reached. By the end of March 2006, CEAST declared that the religious life of the Cabinda diocese was back to normal. Vieira Dias's installation took place on 10 June 2006.

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. Because he was not from Cabinda and because of his family links to the regime of José Eduardo dos Santos, Vieira Dias’s appointment was controversial and was met with massive protests by Cabindan Catholics. His predecessor, Paulino Fernandes Madeca, was known to be sympathetic to the Cabindan separatist cause.

Pope John Paul II appointed Vieira Dias titular bishop of Fiumepiscense and auxiliary bishop of Luanda on 25 October 2003 and he was consecrated a bishop on 11 January 2004.

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 licenciate 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.

Vieira Dias belongs to an illustrious Angolan family with strong links to the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). He is the cousin once removed of General Hélder Vieira Dias, known as “Kopelipa,” a member of the inner circle of José Eduardo dos Santos, who was president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. He is also the great-nephew of the musician and political activist Carlos Aniceto Vieira Dias, known as "Liceu", who was a founder of the band Ngola Ritmos as well as of the MPLA, and the cousin once removed of musician Ruy Alberto Vieira Dias Mingas, who wrote the music for "Angola Avante", Angola's national anthem.

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.