The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Teodoro Mendes Tavares, of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, as Bishop of the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde). He has until now served as Bishop of the Diocese of Ponta de Pedras (Brazil).
The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from pastoral governance of the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), submitted by Cardinal Arlindo Gomes Furtado.
Bishop Teodoro Mendes Tavares was born on 7 January 1964 in the Parish of Calheta de São Miguel Arcanjo, on the Island of Santiago, Cape Verde. After making his vows in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, he completed his studies in Philosophy at the Higher Institute of Theology in Braga and his studies in Theology at the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon. He later obtained a Licentiate in Ecumenism from Trinity College Dublin.
He has carried out his entire missionary life in Brazil. Assigned to the Spiritan Group of the Amazon, he undertook various pastoral responsibilities there and was later elected Superior of the Group. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Belém do Pará (Brazil) on 16 February 2011 and received episcopal consecration on 8 May of the same year, in Praia, Cape Verde. He was subsequently appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Ponta de Pedras (Brazil) on 10 June 2015, becoming the diocesan bishop on 23 September 2015.
He was one of the Co-consecrating Bishops of Bishop Pedro Fernandes, in the Cathedral of Portalegre, on 16 November 2025.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit wishes him an inspired ministry, now in his native Diocese in Cape Verde.