António Ribeiro

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Styles of António Ribeiro
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Lisbon

His Most Reverend Eminence Dom António Cardinal Ribeiro (May 21, 1928—March 24, 1998) was a Portuguese prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as Patriarch of Lisbon from 1971 until his death in 1998.

Born in São Clemente de Basto, Celorico de Basto, son of José Ribeiro and wife Ana Gonçalves, both from the same location, Ribeiro was ordained as a priest on July 5, 1953 in Braga. He reached Auxiliary Bishop of Braga on 3 July 1967, and was appointed that same day Titular Bishop of Tigillava, although he was only ordained Bishop on 17 September.

Ribeiro graduated with a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome and lectured in the Superior Institute of Catholic Culture. His doctorate thesis, written in 1959, was The Doctrine of Errors in Saint Thomas Aquinas. During the 1960s he continued his studies in Braga and was made member of such institutions as the Superior Institute of Social and Political Sciences. D. António attended also the Theological Faculties of Innsbruck and Münich.

Meanwhile, in 1960 he also began to appear in television with a program called Dia do Senhor (The Lord's Day), and collaborated with several religious magazines and newspapers, beyond his own publications.

D. António succeeded Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira when he retired as Patriarch in 1971. Appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Portuguese Military in 1972, Ribeiro was elevated by Paul VI in March 1973 to Cardinal-Priest of S. Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana. When he was elevated to the cardinalate, António Ribeiro became the youngest cardinal since Cerejeira himself forty-four years earlier and he remains the youngest cardinal appointed since 1930. He attended the 1978 August and October Conclaves. In 1991, as in other occasions, D. António was the papal envoy to the 5th centennial celebration of evangelization in Luanda, Angola.

Recognized as a man of compromise, he was nevertheless very determined in defending the rights and privileges of the Church in his country.

D. António died of cancer in Lisbon in 1998 and is buried in the tomb of the patriarchs in S. Vicente de Fora. He was the Principal Consecrator of D. José Policarpo in 1978, who would succeed him as Patriarch, and of D. Januário Ferreira in 1989, who would succeed as Military vicar of Portugal in 2001.