Bruno Pedron had turned 78 years of age last June 3 and lived 59 years as a Salesian, 48 years as a priest, and 23 years as a bishop. His episcopal motto was "Ut Unum Sint" (To be one; that they are all one).
Born June 3, 1944, in Torreglia, in the province of Padua, Italy, Bruno Pedron arrived in Brazil as a young Salesian missionary. He studied philosophy at the Philosophical Institute of São Vicente in Campo Grande (MS) and theology at the Salesian Pedagogical Institute of Verona-Saval, affiliated with the Salesian Pontifical University. He was ordained a priest on 6 April 1974 in his hometown.
In his Salesian life he was Rector of the Indigenous Missions in Meruri (1979-1982); Rector of the São Vicente Institute in Campo Grande (1987-1993); Rector of the Salesian complex in Lins (1997-1998), as well as pastor at Poxoréu (1998-1999). For the BCG Province, he also served as councilor (1988-1991).
On 24 March 1999 Pope John Paul II appointed him coadjutor bishop of Jardim; on the following May 21 he received episcopal ordination, in Rondonópolis, and became titular of the diocese on August 4 of the same year, succeeding Msgr. Onofre Cândido Rosa. During the four-year term 2003-2007, he was president of the Oeste 1 regional secretariat of Brazil. On April 11, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of the diocese of Ji-Paraná, of which he took canonical possession the following June 24. On June 5, 2019, Pope Francis accepted his resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese, submitted, as usual, upon reaching the age of 75.
The Presidency of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference (CNBB) issued a note of condolence in which it joins the current bishop of the Diocese of Ji-Paraná, Bishop Norberto Foerster, "in thanking God for the immense wealth of gifts offered to the Church through the life and witness of Bishop Bruno." Then, recalling the episcopal motto of the departed Salesian, the note recalls "his struggle in all these years of dedication to the Church: that union always makes strength. Happy are the people who had him as their pastor. His presence and encouragement will undoubtedly remain etched in their hearts."
Msgr. Pedron's funeral was held last Saturday, June 18, at the "Mary Help of Christians" parish church in Campo Grande, and his remains were interred at Parque das Palmeiras Cemetery.
