Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Metropolitan Archbishop of São Paulo (Brazil), was born on 21 September 1949 in São Francisco, Cerro Largo, Brazil. Ordained a priest on 7 December 1976, he holds a doctorate in theology and a licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He served as Rector and professor at the São José Minor Seminary in Cascavel and at the Maria Mãe of Igreja Seminary in Toledo. He was also Rector of the Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe Seminary and philosophy professor at the interdiocesan centre of theology.

He served as parochial vicar, as parish priest and as an Official of the Congregation for Bishops (1994-2001).

He was appointed Titular Bishop of Novi and Auxiliary Bishop of São Paulo on 28 November 2001, and was consecrated bishop on 2 February 2002 in Toledo (Brazil)..

In May 2003 he was elected General Secretary of the National Bishops’ Conference of Brazil.  On 12 December 2006 the Pope appointed him adjunct general secretary of the fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops.

He succeeded Cardinal Hummes as Archbishop of São Paulo on 21 March 2007.

On 24 June 2008 he was appointed President-Delegate of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” (5-26 October 2008).  He participated in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization (October 2014) and in the Ordinary General Assembly on “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World” (October 2015).

He was a member of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

He participated in the conclave of March 2013, which elected Pope Francis.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the Consistory of 24 November 2007, and was assigned the titular church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale.

Member of:

• The Council for the Economy;
• Dicasteries: for the Clergy; for Culture and Education; for Evangelization, Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World.