Humberto Sousa Medeiros

On April 14, 1966, Medeiros was appointed Bishop of Brownsville, Texas, by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal ordination on June 9 from Bishop James Louis Connolly, with bishops James Joseph Gerrard and Gerald Vincent McDevitt serving as co-consecrators, at St. Mary's Cathedral.[4]

His appointment to the Southern Texas diocese came at the time of a threatened farm workers' strike.[2] Many of the lay faithful of the diocese were Mexican-American migrant workers. Medeiros was an advocate on behalf of workers, supporting their demands for a minimum wage at $1.25 an hour. He also became known as an outspoken opponent of capitalism, denouncing an economic system that "considers profit the key motive for economic progress, competition the maximum law of economics, and private ownership of the means of production an absolute right that carries no corresponding social obligations."[2]

During his tenure, Medeiros sold the episcopal limousine, converted all but one room of the episcopal residence into a dormitory for visiting priests, and often traveled with migrant workers to celebrate Mass in the fields during the harvest season.[2] He spent Christmas and Easter visiting prisoners in Texas jails.[1] He also served as the chaplain of the Texas state council of the Knights of Columbus.[7]

Medeiros was appointed Archbishop of Boston on September 8, 1970, at the request of and in succession to Richard Cushing. He was installed on October 7 of that year.[4] The appointment of Medeiros, a Portuguese-American, surprised Irish Catholics in Boston, as the Irish had long dominated the local clergy and some Irish Catholics in Boston looked down on the Portuguese as "third-class Catholics".[8] In the days leading up to and following Medeiros' arrival, local Catholic institutions were targeted by vandals on several occasions. In one instance a cross was burned on the lawn of the diocese's chancery.[8]

In 1971, Medeiros described abortion as "the new barbarism".[9] As in Brownsville, he became an advocate for the poor: his Pastoral Letter "Man's Cities God's Poor" Boston 1972 reflects his passion for the poor. An opponent of the Vietnam War, Medeiros condemned the bombing of Hanoi in a 1972 Christmas homily.[10]

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna in the consistory of March 5, 1973.[4] Medeiros pleaded with the Vatican to lift the excommunication of Leonard Feeney, who disobeyed church authority and took a strict interpretation of the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.[11] In 1974, Medeiros refused to allow the baptism of the child of a Marlboro woman who supported the establishment of an abortion-information clinic.[12] He strongly supported integration in the United States but not desegregation via busing. He refused to let parents enroll their children in parochial schools as a means of avoiding it.[13] In May 1976, he spoke out against the racism in South Boston but apologized the following week.[14] Medeiros served as a special papal envoy to the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal in May 1977.[15]

Medeiros was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II, respectively. Following John Paul I's sudden death, he said, "I've been trying to say to God, 'It's your doing, and I must accept it.'"[16] Before the primaries for the 1980 congressional elections, Medeiros issued a pastoral letter that stated, "Those who make abortion possible by law cannot separate themselves from the guilt which accompanies this horrendous crime and deadly sin."[17] His words were considered to be directed at pro-choice candidates James Michael Shannon and Barney Frank, and criticized by some as violating the separation of church and state.

Medeiros transferred John Geoghan from parish to parish despite multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse.[18] He knew of dozens of sexual abuse accusations against Paul Shanley.[19] Medeiros himself was accused of sexual impropriety posthumously by Gerry Garland, a student at Catholic Memorial High School.

Medeiros died from heart failure during open heart surgery in Boston, at age 67. He was laid to rest at his request with his parents in Saint Patrick's Cemetery in his hometown of Fall River. Massachusetts Governor (and future Democratic presidential nominee) Michael Dukakis described him as a "gentle, compassionate man".