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A light-harvesting ruthenium porphyrin substituted covalently with four boron–dipyrrin (BODIPY) moieties has been synthesized and studied. The resulting complex showed an efficient decarbonylation reaction predominantly due to a photo-induced energy transfer process. Chemical oxidation of the ruthenium( ii ) BODIPY–porphyrin afforded a high-energy trans -dioxoruthenium( vi ) species that is one order of magnitude more reactive towards alkene oxidation than those analogues supported by conventional porphyrins. In the presence of visible light, the ruthenium( ii ) BODIPY–porphyrin displayed remarkable catalytic activity toward sulfide oxidation and alkene epoxidation using iodobenzene diacetate [PhI(OAc) 2 ] and 2,6-dichloropyridine N -oxide (Cl 2 pyNO) as terminal oxidants, respectively. The findings in this work highlight that porphyrin–BODIPY conjugated metal complexes are potentially useful for visible light-promoted catalytic oxidations.