FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Stephen Phelan 540-622-5270 – SPhelan@hli.org – www.hli.org

January 11, 2010

HLI Remembers Bishop Pestana,

Champion of Life and Family

FRONT ROYAL, VA – Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, interim president of Human Life International (HLI), today remembered the bishop emeritus of Anápolis, Brazil, Manoel Pestana Filho, who died January 8, 2011 in his home city of Santos.

“Bishop Pestana was known around the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking world as a man of deep faith, and as a champion of life and family. He is dearly missed by many, and by me particularly as I was incardinated in his diocese, and benefitted immensely from his guidance and friendship,” said Monsignor Barreiro.

Born in Santos, Brazil in 1928, Bishop Pestana was widely known as a strong proponent of faithfulness to the Church her teaching, particularly in the areas of defending human life at all stages, and defending the traditional family. Ordained a priest in 1952 and bishop in 1979, Bishop Pestana was a professor of philosophy before taking possession of the Diocese of Anápolis, Brazil in 1979.

Humberto Vieira, Director of HLI’s PROVIDAFAMILIA in Brazil, remembered Dom Pestana as “a bishop of family and life.”

Tomorrow, January 12, 2011, a requiem Mass will be celebrated in his honor by Monsignor Barreiro.

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Human Life International: Pro-Life Missionaries to the World

Founded in 1981, HLI is the world’s largest international pro-life organization, with affiliates and associates in over 100 countries on six continents. www.hli.org