All parties that cultivated a closeness to ordinary people and took care of their problems should be accompanied by the Church, Aguiar told a Portuguese news site, the US medium "National Catholic Register" reported on Friday.
According to the Bishop of Setúbal, he is open to participating in events organised by other parties in the future, including the right-wing populist "Chega".
"We are on the path together and are making progress." It is important that all political parties take an interest in the reality and problems of Portugal's citizens. In this way, young people could also become interested in politics again.
Before entering the seminary in 1995, 51-year-old Aguiar was a member of the city council of Matosinhos in the north of Portugal for several years. During this time, he was a member of the country's Socialist Party.
Aguiar was ordained a priest for the diocese of Porto in 2001, and in 2019 Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop in the Patriarchate of Lisbon. The theologian and communications expert was responsible for planning and organising World Youth Day, which took place in Lisbon at the beginning of August 2023.
A month earlier, the Pope had announced Aguiar's admission to the College of Cardinals, which took place at the end of September 2023. A few days earlier, Aguiar had been appointed Bishop of Setúbal.
In the run-up to World Youth Day in Portugal, Aguiar had made headlines because he did not consider the youth gathering to be an event for evangelisation. "World Youth Day was not, is not and should not be an event for proselytising; on the contrary, it is and must always be an opportunity to get to know and respect one another as brothers and sisters," he said at the time.
Aguiar was heavily criticised for this in conservative media.