António Augusto dos Santos Marto GCIH (; 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.
Biography
Early life
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.
Despite coincidentally sharing his surname with the shepherd children of Fátima, Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, they have no familial relation; Marto's father came originally from the village of Santulhão, in Vimioso, instead.
António Marto was very fond of the local parish priest, who he used to engage in conversation, and who left him with a lasting impression on how he was held in high esteem by the whole community. At age 10, following his primary school education, António unexpectedly expressed his desire to become a priest; he initially met some resistance from his father, who even though was devoutly Catholic, had envisioned a career in military for him and was planning to send him to the Institute of the Pupils of the Army. Joining seminary, he was a keen student (with some shortcomings in mathematics) and was also very keen on past-times such as sports (namely volleyball, basketball, handball, and field hockey) and theatre (where he was, ironically, found best suited to play the devil in popular morality plays).
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.
Priesthood and episcopacy
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").
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.
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.
Cardinal
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.
At the 28 June consistory, he was assigned the titular church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.