As COP30 begins in Brazil, Catholic Church leaders urge nations to respect Indigenous communities and act unselfishly together to address climate change and protect creation.
Brazil
Posted inDispatches
Catholic leaders respond to police raid that killed 132 in Brazil
“Operation Containment” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aimed to disrupt the criminal network Comando Vermelho, but with 132 dead were police too indiscriminate in their use of force?
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Catholic ‘influencers’ are not evangelizers, according to research group in Brazil
The only way to counter the excessive impact that influencers have on the life of the church is to promote more critical thinking among the Catholic faithful, who must be able to recognize attempts to manipulate the faith for political and economic ends.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
In a surprise to environmentalists and church leaders, Brazil’s Lula revives plans for offshore oil drilling in Amazon basin
The most controversial blocks for exploration are located offshore at the mouth of the Amazon River basin. Petrobras, a government-controlled oil company, is pushing to begin preliminary drilling in search of new oil reserves.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Indigenous peoples struggle to recover from genocidal campaign unleashed under Brazil’s President Bolsonaro
Over the four-year administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, between 2019 and 2023, 570 Yanomami children perished as 20,000 wildcat miners, known in Brazil as garimpeiros, tore up the forest in what should have been protected Yanomami territory, seeking gold, tin and minerals used in contemporary hi-tech products.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Climate justice, women’s ministries and spiritual conversations: Synod takeaways from Brazil
Among the main concerns they mentioned were the role of the laity, especially of women; the contribution of the church on ecology in light of the encyclical “Laudato Si’”; and “spiritual conversation,” a method of discernment that was adopted to structure discussions during the first assembly that could become a major legacy of the synod.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘It’s genocide’: Brazil’s Catholic bishops on killing of Indigenous Amazon people
Devastated by malnutrition and preventable diseases like flu, pneumonia, anemia, malaria and diarrhea, the Yanomami people have been called victims of a contemporary genocide by government authorities.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Pope Francis and Catholic leaders condemn attacks on Brazil’s capital
“This has no place in democratic coexistence,” Cardinal Odilo Scherer tweeted on the day of the riots.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
As Lula takes office (again), the church in Brazil calls for reconciliation and a campaign to end hunger
After four years of the far-right government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Brazilians peacefully welcomed—for the third time—the inauguration of the popular center-left leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on New Year’s Day.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Brazil’s newly elected Lula has a chance to work with the Catholic Church to serve the common good
Priorities for Mr. Lula as he becomes president include addressing the food insecurity that affects more than half of the Brazilian population, as well as the restoration of the economy and democratic normalcy after Mr. Bolonaro’s populist rule.