About
From the agreste to western Bahia, and from the parish to the university chair
A priestly life that has never separated the altar from the classroom: a parish priest who renovated a church and saw it become a shrine, a philosopher trained in Rome, a formator of future priests and a researcher of what faith becomes once it passes through screens.
Barreiras
Born in Caruaru, in the agreste of Pernambuco, Father Jocleilson was ordained a priest on November 26, 2011 for the Diocese of Barreiras, in western Bahia, where he carried out most of his ministry. He was installed as parish priest of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro on March 4, 2017. Under his leadership the church was entirely renovated and, on September 25, 2021, a decree of Bishop Moacir Silva Arantes raised it to a Diocesan Shrine and appointed him its first rector. Eight years in the same community, which ended with the installation of his successor on February 8, 2026.
In the Diocese, he was coordinator of the vocations ministry from 2022 and vicar general from June 2023, and he was also responsible for the communications office, for the service of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue and for the general coordination of the Centro Cata-Vento, which serves five hundred children together with Cáritas Diocesana. He took the Sunday Mass to the local radio station, kept an evangelization page on Facebook and a YouTube channel with almost seven thousand subscribers. Those who followed him closely remember the daily reflections on the Gospel and a northeastern humor that never leaves the pulpit.
Rome
A graduate in Philosophy from PUC Goiás and in Theology from the Associação Sedes Sapientiae, in Goiânia, he went on to the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Rome, where in 2016 he obtained the Licentiate in Philosophy, a degree recognized in Brazil as a master’s degree by PUCRS. The thesis, written in Italian under the supervision of the Jesuit Louis Caruana, sets Karl Popper against Imre Lakatos on falsifiability and realism. At the same institution he took the training course for spiritual directors. Then came the graduate certificates in Philosophy and Legal Theory, at PUC Minas, and in Educational and Learning Psychology, at Universidade Candido Mendes.
Goiânia
On January 26, 2026 the Diocese sent him to Goiânia as spiritual formator and director of academic life at the São João Maria Vianney Interdiocesan Seminary, the house that forms the future priests of seven dioceses. There he lives in full immersion with the seminarians: the same house, the same meals, classes, sport and prayer. Alongside this, he teaches at the Instituto de Filosofia e Teologia de Goiás and in the Theology program at PUC Goiás, and helps with the Sunday Masses of a parish in the city.
It is also at PUC Goiás that he is pursuing his doctorate in Religious Studies. The dissertation ties Heidegger’s question about the meaning of being to Byung-Chul Han’s diagnosis of exhaustion, in order to examine the ethos of a religion measured by efficiency. The research starts from the phenomenon of the “religiously unaffiliated”, today the third largest religious group in the country according to the 2022 Census, and moves on to a religiosity mediated by algorithms and artificial intelligence. The subject has taken him to meetings in Ecuador and Mexico and to a public reading, part by part, of Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.
Education and milestones
- 2005
Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás.
- 2009
Bachelor’s degree in Theology
Associação Sedes Sapientiae, Ecclesiastical Province of Goiânia.
- 2011
Priestly ordination
On November 26, for the Diocese of Barreiras.
- 2016
Master’s degree in Philosophy
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. Thesis in Italian on Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, supervised by Fr. Louis Caruana S.J. Degree recognized as a master’s degree by PUCRS.
- 2017
Parish priest of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro
Installed on March 4, in Barreiras. He would lead the community for eight years.
- 2019
Graduate certificate in Philosophy and Legal Theory
PUC Minas.
- 2020
Graduate certificate in Educational and Learning Psychology
Universidade Candido Mendes.
- 2021
The church of Perpétuo Socorro is raised to a Diocesan Shrine
On September 25, by decree of Bishop Moacir Silva Arantes, after the complete renovation carried out by Father Jocleilson and his collaborators. The same decree appointed him first rector of the Shrine.
- 2022
Diocesan coordinator of vocations ministry
Appointed on August 4, for three years.
- 2023
Vicar general of the Diocese of Barreiras
Appointed on June 15 and reappointed for an indefinite term in 2024. In the same year he took up a post as substitute professor in higher education at the Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia, until 2024.
- 2025
Doctorate in Religious Studies
PUC Goiás, supervised by Prof. Dr. José Reinaldo Felipe Martins Filho. In the same year, he began teaching at IFITEG.
- 2026
São João Maria Vianney Interdiocesan Seminary
Since January 26, spiritual formator and director of academic life, in Goiânia. He also begins teaching Theology at PUC Goiás.
Ministry
- Priestly ordination, Diocese de Barreiras
- Parish priest of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro, Barreiras, Bahia
- First rector of the Diocesan Shrine of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro, Barreiras, Bahia
- Diocesan coordinator of vocations ministry, Diocese de Barreiras
- Vicar general, Diocese de Barreiras
- Assistance to the parish of Santa Cruz, Morada da Lua, Barreiras
Teaching
- Spiritual formator and director of academic life, Seminário Interdiocesano São João Maria Vianney, Goiânia
- Professor of Theology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás
- Visiting professor, Instituto de Filosofia e Teologia de Goiás (IFITEG)
- Visiting professor, collaborator, Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia (UFOB)
- Substitute professor in higher education, Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia (UFOB)
Research networks
- RELEREA, Lusophone Network of Studies in Religion, Spirituality and Art, PUC Goiás
- Catholic philosophy in Latin America, ODUCAL, Organização de Universidades Católicas da América Latina e do Caribe
- Laboratory of Advanced Studies in Sustainable Regional Development, Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia Group record at CNPq
Peer review and languages
- Peer reviewer for Revista Fragmentos de Cultura
- Peer reviewer for Caminhos: Revista de Ciências da Religião
- Portuguese
- Italian
- English
- Spanish
Short biography
Jocleilson Sebastião da Silva is a priest of the Diocese of Barreiras (BA), ordained in 2011. He was parish priest and first rector of the Diocesan Shrine of Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro, from 2017 to 2026, and vicar general of the Diocese. He holds a master’s degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Rome, recognized by PUCRS, and is a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies at PUC Goiás. Since January 2026 he has been spiritual formator and director of academic life at the São João Maria Vianney Interdiocesan Seminary, in Goiânia, where he also teaches at IFITEG and at PUC Goiás. He researches digital religiosity, the phenomenon of the “religiously unaffiliated” and the relations between faith and artificial intelligence.