Rome, Italy. Father General and his Council have appointed Fr. Antonio Carlos Ferreira as the new Postulator General, effective November 1, 2026—the Solemnity of All Saints. Fr. Antonio Carlos Ferreira was born on September 8, 1961, in Araçatuba, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. He entered the Congregation of the Claretian Missionaries and made his first religious profession on February 2, 1984, in Campinas, State of São Paulo. He later made his perpetual profession on March 16, 1991. He was ordained a priest on December 7, 1991, in Araçatuba, through the laying on of hands of Antônio Agostinho Marochi, then Bishop of the Diocese of Presidente Prudente, State of São Paulo.
After his priestly ordination, he dedicated himself to pastoral and missionary life within the Claretian Congregation, serving in various ministries of evangelization, formation, and spiritual animation. From 1999 to 2001, he earned a master’s degree in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum in Rome. In 2016, he obtained a master’s degree in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Nossa Senhora da Assunção in São Paulo.
Between 2006 and 2010, he was Professor of Spiritual Theology at the Studium Theologicum in Curitiba. In 2012, during the Provincial Chapter, he was elected Prefect of Formation, a role to which he was reappointed in subsequent terms, remaining in this service until 2023. He subsequently assumed the position of Prefect of Spirituality and Bible in the Province of Brazil. He also serves as professor of Scripture at the Faculdades Claretianas. Between 2024 and 2026, professor of Spiritual Theology and Scripture at the Faculdade Católica da Arquidiocese de Pouso Alegre (FACAPA), in Pouso Alegre.
Over the years, he also held responsibilities in religious formation, spiritual accompaniment, and the preaching of retreats and meetings for religious and parish communities. He has made a significant contribution to the formation of new religious, the strengthening of pastoral activity, and the spiritual animation of the communities in which he exercises his ministry.
We express our gratitude to Fr. Krzysztof Gierat for his service to the Congregation as Postulator General since March 19, 2020, and we wish him every blessing in his continued service at the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as in his capacity as superior of the Iuridicum community in Rome. We also entrust Fr. Antonio Carlos Ferreira to the Lord as he takes on this new responsibility of the General Postulation for the Causes of Saints.
