The victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and much more the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro, represent for the Catholic world of Brazil a victory and a strong relief against the offensive that was constantly pushing the Catholic Church to a percentage of 56.3 % of faithful in recent decades.
The Bishops’ Conference of Brazil, the country with the most Catholics in the world. he congratulated Lula da Silva in a statement for winning the elections, but warned him that “there is still a lot of work to be done”.
More than 300 Brazilian bishops have asked for peace and unity in the country, after Lula’s victory with over two million votes, in the closest elections since the end of military rule in 1985.
“May everyone walk together to build better policies at the service of the common good. Many Catholics who work with poor indigenous people and peasants now hope for the return of the former president ”, highlighted the statement from the Church of Brazil.
“Lula’s victory revives the expectation of the return of respect for indigenous minorities and traditional communities, as well as for the jungle and nature in the Amazon, in the resumption of the role of the state in controlling deforestation, land grabbing, violence and the plundering of natural resources at the expense of the poorest and most vulnerable ”, adds the text.
social tensions
For his part, Cardinal Odilio Pedro Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo, considered the head of the Brazilian Church, He immediately called for “Brazil to overcome social tensions”.
“Let’s put an end to the feelings that have contaminated the electoral process, dividing families and breaking up friendships,” he remarked. Cardinal Scherer called for “a new phase of social conciliation”.
A Rai channel, the Italian Radio and Television, interviewed the theologian Leonardo Boff, punished by the Vatican, who said that “Lula’s victory means a defeat for the conservatism, fascism and the extreme right that are growing in the world”.
“Brazil is important for its size, for its population and for being a powerhouse of natural goods and services, essential for the survival of human life on the planet,” he added.
Boff said Jair Bolsonaro “did not reveal himself at the head of state level. For their homophobic, misogynistic, racist behavior, enemies of blacks and indigenous people ”, which“ have produced intolerance, violence and a shameful contempt for the poor, who are the majority in society ”.
Hunger
In Catholic circles close to the Brazilian Bishops’ Conference, it was recalled that during Lula’s two terms from 2003 to 2010, a great effort was made to wipe the country off the United Nations Hunger Map.
“The country was removed from the map in 2014 due to food security plans implemented in Lula’s two terms.” But the country was added to the Hunger Map again in 2018.
A study on food insecurity has shown this 33.1 million Brazilians do not have enough food, while another 125.2 million “have experienced a certain degree of food insecurity in the last year”.
The election results showed a country split in two and this means that there were Catholic sectors that voted for Bolsonaro, especially in the prosperous center and south of the gigantic nation of 215 million inhabitants and eight and a half million square kilometers.
Vatican correspondent
CB
Source: Clarin
