From 1963 until 1968, he taught philosophy at the Franciscan seminary in Garibaldi, the major seminary of Viamão, and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Porto Alegre. He then studied at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Geneva, Switzerland, where he received a specialization in ecumenism. He was adviser for ecumenical affairs to the Episcopal Conference of Brazil, Provincial Superior of the Franciscans of Rio Grande do Sul (1972–1975), and president of the Union of Latin American Conferences of Franciscans.
In 2013 he served as one of the 115 cardinals in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.[7][8] When the new pope won the conclave ballot, Hummes whispered to him, "Don't forget the poor". Francis said that immediately he remembered Francis of Assisi, "the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation," and "the name Francis came into my heart". When Francis appeared on the balcony shortly after his election, Hummes was among the cardinals who accompanied the new pope and stood beside him at his immediate left on the balcony.[9][10]
A year later, Hummes was appointed honorary president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), established in 2014 in Brasilia, Brazil, during a meeting of bishops whose territories include Amazon regions, priests, missionaries of congregations who work in the Amazon jungle, and national representatives of Caritas and laypeople belonging to various Church bodies. In his message, he reiterated that the creation of the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network "represents a new incentive and relaunch of the work of the Church in Amazonia, strongly desired by the Holy Father. There, the Church wishes to be, with courage and determination, a missionary Church, merciful, prophetic, and close to all the people, especially the poorest, the excluded, the discarded, the forgotten and wounded. A Church with an 'Amazonian face' and a 'native clergy', as Pope Francis proposed in his address to the bishops of Brazil".[11]
On 29 November 2015, ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference Cardinal Hummes appeared again on the world's global media stage when he and Avaaz campaigner Oscar Soria displayed a pair of shoes donated by Pope Francis to support a climate demonstration in Paris that had replaced a planned march after French authorities had banned public protests in the aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks. Parisians and others from around the world donated shoes and set them up at Place de la Republique, in a symbolic march organized by the civic movement Avaaz which gained the support of the pope.[14]
"This is a very important and also very emotional moment, the Pope wanted to personally participate symbolically just like all of us who have put our shoes, we want to participate symbolically to the worldwide march for climate change here in Paris", Cardinal Hummes told journalists at the event.[15]
"We ask for drastic cuts of carbon emissions to keep the global temperature rise below the dangerous threshold of 1.5 °C," the cardinal said before international media. "As the bishops' appeal states, we need to 'put an end to the fossil fuel era' and 'set a goal for complete decarbonisation by 2050 (...) And we ask wealthier countries to aid the world's poorest to cope with climate change impacts, by providing robust climate finance," he added.[16]
Recounting that event, Cardinal Hummes later said: "I had the privilege, along with Oscar Soria from Avaaz, to bring the shoes of Pope Francis. There were lots of expectations, it was a great and symbolically strong way of pressure from the people, and as well the presence of Pope Francis, in this clamor to avert climate change".[17]
Views
Economic issues
Cardinal Hummes who criticized the spread of global capitalism, claimed that privatizing state companies and lowering tariffs had contributed to "misery and poverty affecting millions around the world".[18]
Indigenous people
Hummes issued an official statement condemning the anonymous attacks on homeless indigenous people. He said "such violence and cruelty is unacceptable and should be vigorously repudiated. The Church has cried out many times regarding the need to come to the aid of those who are forced to live in our streets, without shelter. She does so out of a duty of humanity and because of her faith in Jesus Christ, who wishes to be identified in each person, especially in the poor and handicapped".[19]
Clerical celibacy
In a 2006 interview with Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, Cardinal Hummes said that "even though celibacy is part of Catholic history and culture, the Church could review this question, because celibacy is not a dogma but a disciplinary question." He also said that it is "a long and valuable tradition in the Latin-rite church, based on strong theological and pastoral arguments".[20]
— (2015). Papa Francisco e Apóstolo Paulo. Lâmpadas no Caminho [Pope Francis and the Apostle Paul: Lamps on the Way] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Paulus. ISBN9788534941723.
— (2018). Ano Santo da Misericórdia: um Jubileu Extraordinário [Holy Year of Mercy: an Extraordinary Jubilee] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Paulus. ISBN978-8534942744.
^Procession and entrance in Conclave (Television production) (in Italian). Rome: Centro Televisivo Vaticano. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
^Habemus Papam, Franciscus (Television production) (in Italian). Rome: Centro Televisivo Vaticano. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
