João Lourenço highlighted in a message the dedication of Óscar Braga in always "better serving the Catholic Church and the common good".
"It was with deep consternation that I received the sad news of the death of Dom Óscar Braga, bishop emeritus of the diocese of Benguela, a city where for 45 years he exercised his worthy religious action", he wrote.
The head of state stressed that Óscar Braga "stimulated many religious vocations among the youth and transmitted the noblest values of Angolan society, of love for neighbor, appreciation of the family and the defense of the most vulnerable, the child and the woman".
"A man of integrity and a convinced patriot, we have fond memories of the years we worked and lived in Benguela between 1986 and 1989", he stressed.
The bishop emeritus of Benguela died, on Tuesday, at the age of 89, in the General Hospital of Benguela, where he arrived in an extremely delicate situation, already in cardiorespiratory arrest, according to hospital sources.
Óscar Lino Fernandes Braga was born in Malanje, on September 30, 1931. He entered the seminary with higher education and was ordained a priest in 1964, having been ordained bishop ten years later, in Malanje.
In 1975, he took over the Benguela diocese until 2008, when he was replaced by Eugénio Dal Corso.
More than 300 priests were ordained by Óscar Braga and in their 33 years of episcopal mission, three bishops left the Benguela diocese: José Nambi, Mário Lukundi and Emílio Sumbelelo.
