Councillor Eder Borges of former President Jair Bolsonaro's Liberal Party introduced the motion, arguing it would address issues related to homelessness and substance abuse.

However critics have labelled the proposal as "eugenicist" and "Nazi".

Borges's motion, released on 1 October, calls for the implementation of contraceptive methods including tubal ligation and vasectomy for homeless individuals who refuse detoxification treatment.

The council approved the motion on 8 October, forwarding it to the city government, though the administration is not obligated to act on the recommendation.

Proposal sparks outrage and condemnation

The motion has sparked a widespread backlash.

Father Julio Lancellotti, a prominent human rights advocate and vicar for the homeless in the Archdiocese of São Paulo, denounced the proposal on social media, criticising it as dehumanising.

Lancellotti, known for his advocacy for the poor, has called the suggestion a violation of basic human rights.

"We have heard of sporadic cases over the years of women who were sterilised against their will. But that's the first time a suggestion of such a nature has become public" said Ivone Perassa, coordinator of the Bishops Conference's Homeless Pastoral Ministry.

She noted that the motion reinforces harmful stereotypes, referencing 19th-century ideologies that portrayed the poor as "dirty" and a source of disease.

Borges defends motion amid criticism

In a video statement, Borges defended his proposal claiming it aims to prevent the birth of children into difficult conditions.

He also attacked Lancellotti, accusing him of being a "communist" and insinuating inappropriate conduct.

"That kind of idea is populist. He's trying to draw support from part of society, as if that suggestion could solve the serious challenges the city is facing" said Perassa, criticising Borges's proposal as a simplistic solution to complex problems.

Concerns over human rights and ethical implications

Human rights advocates have raised serious concerns over the motion's implications.

Kelly Melatti, president of the Federal Council of Social Service, expressed alarm at the precedent it could set.

She noted that cases of forced sterilisation have occurred, both legally and illegally, but said Borges's motion represents a disturbing shift.

"The State doesn't offer any real alternative for the serious problems regarding inequality and extreme poverty. And some people think the solution is to dehumanise homeless people, especially women" Melatti said.

She added that such initiatives are rooted in racism and misogyny, attempting to provide "easy, moralistic answers to grave problems".

• Crux

Until 2007, the religious was an important theologian of liberation theology, although not as famous as his brother Leonardo, a former Catholic priest who is one of the founders of the movement, which gained popularity in the 1970s and emphasized freedom from poverty and oppression as the key to salvation.

Then, in a move that alienated him from his famous brother, Clodovis Boff published the article "Liberation Theology and Return to Fundamentals," in which he accused liberation theologians of making the poor the center of theology instead of Jesus Christ.

Now, Boff has written a book calling for a re-centering of the Latin American Catholic Church in Christ.

"It is necessary for the Church to once again emphasise Christ as priest, as master and Lord, and not just the fight against poverty and the climate crisis," he said at the launch of the book "The Crisis in the Catholic Church and Liberation Theology," written in collaboration with Father Leonardo Rasera and recently released by Ecclesiae.

"These are important questions, but without drinking from Christ, who is the source, everything dries up, everything dies," Boff said.

In the late 1960s, when liberation theology began its long dominion of religious thought in Brazil, more than 90 percent of Brazilians were Catholics.

Since then, the percentage of Catholics in the Brazilian population has decreased and now stands at 51 percent.

Moreover, Brazilian Catholics have a very low rate of church attendance.

A survey conducted by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) in 36 countries last year showed that only eight percent of Brazilian Catholics go to Mass on Sunday.

The rate was the third lowest among the analysed countries.

For Boff and Rasera, the decline in church attendance is due to the deposit of faith not being passed on.

With liberation theology, "faith is instrumentalised in terms of the poor," Boff writes in the book.

"One falls into utilitarianism or functionalism in relation to the Word of God and to theology in general," he continues.

He says liberation theology "appeals to ideas such as ‘margins of gratuity' and ‘eschatological reserve' to assert its respect for the transcendence of faith.

In fact, the part of transcendence is, in this theology, the smallest and least relevant part, the ‘lion's share' falling, as always, to the ‘liberating reading' of faith."

According to the friar, this is leading many Catholics to Protestantism, esotericism, neopaganism, and even Satanism. Continue reading

• Marcelo Musa Cavallari is ACI Digital's editor-in-chief.

The once powerful Brazilian basic church communities have declined since the 1990s.

Last week, 1,000 Brazilian basic church community leaders gathered to discuss Brazil's most pressing issues, from Amazon deforestation to unemployment. They also set up a future-focused strategy.

A central discussion point was ways to encourage more young Catholics to join them.

CEBs and Liberation Theology

Brazil's Basic Church Community movement grew strong in the 1970s during a military junta rule when people's basic rights were suppressed.

Priests and religious often accompanied basic church communities which played a central community role.

The basic church community movement inspired Catholics to participate directly in church life. It encouraged them to organise and act to improve their living conditions.

Liberation theology was the basic church community's theoretical counterpart. Many liberation theologians were persecuted in the 1980s.

"Attacks on Liberation theology were attacks on the basic church communities. That process was very strong during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI," professor of theology and long-time basic church community leader Celso Carias says.

Basic church community membership dropped from 50,000 to today's 20,000.

Clericalism and democracy

While the Church in Brazil became more centralised, clergy took over most parish life, Carias says.

"The community ... was gradually driven away from the decision-making spaces of the parishes."

What was challenged was the kind of spirituality directly connected to social causes which the basic church community stimulated.

Carias says resurrecting the relevance of basic church communities in Brazil will take daily effort - effort that ignores resistance.

An outgoing church

Pope Francis is an important CEB supporter. Last week, he sent a video to motivate basic church community members at a national gathering, urging them to keep working for an outgoing Church.

One of the 50 Brazilian episcopate members at the gathering is delighted that many clergy participated. But "there is a huge resistance among many in the Church to accept the basic church community model," he says.

"Many people continue to prefer a closed Church ... that looks only to itself. We have many barriers to overcome."

He suggests working with popular movements and community organisations as Francis does.

Beginning again

Members of Brazilian Indigenous groups were also at the gathering. Some led the liturgy.

Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa says "A person who was not an enthusiast of the basic church community told me that 'only in a Church like that did the Indigenous and other traditional peoples have a place'."

"It was a moment of conversion."

Many Youth Pastoral Ministry leaders at the gathering were invited to work with veteran leaders to reorganise basic church communities throughout Brazil.

Bible circles are reviving, and young people are joining them.

"We have to educate and form new leaders. That is how we will change things," basic church community leader Edson Canchilheri says.

In rural areas, basic church communities can help communities as they have formerly - promoting solidarity and practical support and supporting rural associations striving for better conditions for farmers, Canchilheri says.

Source

• La Croix

In a Aug. 17 press statement, papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said that 18 Dräger intensive care ventilators and six Fuji portable ultrasound scanners would be shipped to Brazil on the pope's behalf.

Brazil has reported 3.3 million cases of COVID-19 and 107,852 deaths as of Aug. 17, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The country has the second-highest officially recorded death toll in the world after that of the United States. Continue reading

During the pandemic lockdown, fake news on the internet seems to have intensified in Brazil. Much of it is directed against the Church, often by people who claim to be Catholic.

One event that triggered a new wave of fake news against the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) was its recommendation that all public liturgies be suspended to help prevent the virus being spread.

While most dioceses and parishes throughout Brazil suspended public Masses and told churchgoers to stay home, online campaigns pressuerd the bishops to reverse their decision.

The mainly traditionalists objectors were echoing President Jair Bolsonaro, who was refusing to impose social distancing measures as part of his campaign to minimise the threat posed by COVID-19. In his opinion, COVID-19 is "a little flu."

The traditionalists' campaign has led to a flood of internet attack on the alleged leftist tendencies of the Brazilian Church.

These include using the CNBBs Facebook posts to accuse it of neglecting Brazilians' spiritual lives and preferring to engage in left-wing political activism.

"We have two kinds of fake news against the Church," the CNBB says.

"One of them is connected to religious fanaticism and ecclesial ultra-conservatism."

"The other one is ideological and expresses a rejection of everything that deals with fraternity, solidarity, and human rights," Bishop Joaquim Mol Guimarães says.

He thinks the problem is that two groups - ultra-traditionalists and anticommunists - have united, retro-feeding one another and expanding their reach on social media.

At the same time, the pandemic had led to the Church suddenly increasing its social media presence. Hundreds of priests and bishops have started celebrating online Masses, organizing virtual rosaries and debating Catholic topics.

"The augmented exposure of the Church in this period generated a growth in the opposition to it. The internet made it possible for small oppositionist groups with radical views inside Catholicism to have their voices articulated and amplified," Professor Moisés Sbardelotto, who specialises in Catholic communication says.

In his view, hate speech and fraudulent content are used by those groups as part of a strategy and are produced by professionals. "Such ideas many times reach ill-prepared churchgoers, who only have a basic community experience and didn't have access to a strong Catholic formation."

Bishop Devair Fonseca says the pandemic has been accelerating the bishops' awareness of the need for a professional organization of the Church's social media.

"The Church knew it was important to manage pages and channels on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, but I think that now most people recognize that more investment is needed."

Guimarães agrees. "We want the Brazilian Church to have a contemporary approach to the internet," he says.

Source

• Crux NOw
• Image: CNBC.com

According to Bishop Wellington de Queiroz Vieira of Cristalandia and a member of the current Amazon synod the real issue is a lack of holiness.

de Queiroz says combating priest shortages in the Amazon region by ordaining mature married men does not address a greater problem.

He says he thinks the real obstacles to increasing local priestly vocations are scandals and a lack of holiness in bishops, priests, and deacons.

de Queiroz, 51, says clergy need to be close to their people. However, quoting Pope Francis he adds:

"But very often we do that, but do not convey the perfume of Christ. And we are not able to convey the real message."

The reality instead, is that clerics often either drive people away from Christ, or become proclaimers of themselves.

"We are not always holy priests and holy bishops in our own churches," he says.

People need to think about changing themselves before changing as a Church.

He says in his opinion, the instrument to reawaken vocations lies in the holiness of the evangelizers.

"I am convinced that if I live a holy life, I will not lack ordained ministers," he says.

This is because young people are looking for models of holiness and will be drawn to it when they see it.

"We have an obligation to provide examples of holiness."

De Queiroz describes holiness as including simplicity of life, openness to dialogue, respecting differences, unwavering proclamation of the Christian life, compassion for those who suffer, charity and accepting challenges.

He thinks there should be another solution to priest shortages in the Amazon that needs to be considered.

At present, he notes there is an unequal distribution of priests in the region.

In some areas there is a higher concentration of priests than in others, but they lack a "missionary spirit" to leave and travel to the more remote and challenging areas of the Amazon.

"We need to change this mentality," he says.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Archbishop Manoel Delson signed the ban after the court ordered the archdiocese to pay almost £2.5 million in compensation over the sexual exploitation of minors. Read more

The man entered the cathedral just as midday Mass was about to finish on Tuesday.

According to the Military Police, he then began firing.

Besides the four people confirmed dead, at least four others were injured during the attack.

According to local fire department officials, the gunman was carrying two handguns, at least one of which was a .38 calibre revolver.

Father Amauri Thomazzi, who celebrated Tuesday's midday Mass, published a video on his Facebook page, in which he requested prayer.

"At the end of the Mass, a person came in firing and took lives. Nobody could do anything," he said.

"To you, friends, I ask only that you pray for the [attacker]. He killed himself after the situation. He shot people and there were over 20 shots in here, then he killed himself. So we pray for him and for those who have been injured, there are some fatalities," he said.

The names of the victims and the attacker have not yet been disclosed.

The Archdiocese of Campinas's Facebook page also urges Catholics to pray.

"A shooting left at least five people dead and four others injured in the early afternoon of Tuesday, inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Campinas, in the city centre, according to information from the fire department. The motive is not yet known," the Facebook post says.

"The cathedral remains closed for the care of the victims and the investigation of the police. Once we have more information, we will make it available. We count on the prayers of all in this moment of deep pain," the post concluded.

"Let us ask Our Lady Immaculate to intercede for this cathedral, for these people and for these families," Thomazzi suggests.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Channel News Asia
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The hunger strikers are denouncing the social policies adopted by the current administration and the country's court system.

They say the system is not obeying the Brazilian Constitution, which is resulting in increased violence, unemployment and hunger. Read more

The bishop and priests were part of a group that is alleged to have stolen funds to pay for personal expenses and to buy a cattle farm. Read more

Young women who are actually still girls — but who already have a husband, and sometimes even a child: It is a fate shared by Abaynesh of Ethiopia, Ramgani of India and Nayane of Brazil.

Each has her own story and her own way of dealing with the situation. SPIEGEL ONLINE asked them to share theirs.

Nayane, 15 years old, from Brazil

Nayane and her twin sister Nayara have their eyes glued to their phones, which are vibrating with each incoming message.

Nayara hasn't left the house in three months, a punishment imposed upon her by the "Red Command," the drug gang that controls her community, for having a relationship with a man from a rival group.

Nayane is keeping her company during her confinement. They are lounging on the bed in a small weathered room in a house in Parque União, located in the Maré favela in northern Rio de Janeiro.

Nayane is holding her 10-month-old daughter Ana Sophia in her lap.

The twins are 15-years-old, but aren't currently attending school. At the moment, Nayane is getting ready to go to a funk music party — the same party where she once met the father of her daughter.

The young mother has his photo on her T-shirt. He was involved in drug trafficking and was shot to death during a police operation six months ago.

Brazil has the fourth largest number of child marriages in the world. Almost 1 million women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married before they were 15, and 3 million entered matrimony before turning 18.

The minimum age for marriage in Brazil is 16 with parental consent, but the age limit can be lowered in cases of pregnancy. Continue reading

Source and Image:

• Spiegel Online

With all eyes on Brazil this summer for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Cafod said that the plight of Brazil's indigenous peoples and the Amazon should be centre stage.Read more

Archbishop Aldo di Cillo Pagotto, 66, from Paraíba has been accused of a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male.

The archbishop was also under investigation by a local prosecutor for alleged "connivance" in the sexual exploitation of minors.

In 2015, following an apostolic visitation, he was forbidden to ordain new priests and deacons.

Archbishop Pagotto denied the allegations.

He also faced criticism for ties to spiritualism and for joining a street protest against President Dilma Rousseff.

In his resignation letter, the prelate said his governance of the diocese led to a campaign of slander by anonymous priests.

Continue reading

Bishop Williamson, who was dismissed from the Society of St Pius X in 2012, told followers the ordination will happen in Brazil on March 19.

Last year, he presided at the ordination of a bishop, also in Brazil.

Bishop Williamson said the new bishops are needed to sustain "the resistance".

Canon law stipulates that anyone involved in the ordination of a bishop without approval from the Holy See incurs automatic excommunication.

Continue reading

Bishop Machado was the ordinary of São Carlos, a city of 220,000 in south-eastern Brazil.

In September, the bishop was stopped by police after he exhibited signs of intoxication while driving and almost hit a pedestrian and another vehicle.

An empty wine bottle was found in the bishop's car.

Days later, the diocese issued a statement denying reports that he had offered his resignation.

Continue reading

Bishop Milton Kenan Junior of Barretos issued a decree on the distribution of Communion, the exchange of peace and norms for extraordinary ministers.

The bishop stated that during the exchange of peace, the faithful should avoid moving around too much.

The priest celebrating the Mass "should not leave the altar" to greet the faithful.

The prelate also explained that on feasts or celebrations such as Easter, Christmas, a confirmation, marriage, ordination, or a funeral Mass, "the rite of peace is not a time for ‘congratulations, Merry Christmas', ‘Happy Easter', or any other type of greeting".

Bishop Kenan Junior referenced the 2014 instruction from the Congregation for Divine Worship on the meaning of the gift of peace at Mass.

Continue reading

The resignation of Archbishop Antonio Carlos Altieri, 63, of Passo Fundo, Brazil, came after a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation of his archdiocese.

The investigation was conducted by Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

According to a Brazilian media report, local clergy complained to the apostolic nuncio following a US$600,000 renovation of the episcopal residence as well as renovations to a seminary, chancery, and a retreat house.

Priests also opposed the imposition of a 10 per cent diocesan assessment on parish income.

Archbishop Altieri's alleged "rubricism" and "ritualism" in the liturgy also drew complaints.

And his willingness to accept seminarians who had left other dioceses and religious orders was also questioned, according to the report.

In a letter announcing his resignation, the archbishop apologised to anyone he may have offended.

In March, 2014, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who was dubbed "the Bishop of Bling" after revelations that the price tag on renovations to his home and diocesan offices had skyrocketed to some US$40 million.

Another episcopal resignation was noted by a Vatican bulletin on June 25.

It announced the resignation of Bishop Gonzalo Galvan Castillo, 64, of the Autlan diocese in Mexico.

Mexican media noted that the bishop had been under fire for years for refusing to report to police or remove from ministry a priest, Fr Horacio Lopez, suspected of abuse.

In 2009, a 24-year-old man identified only as Eric reported to Bishop Galvan that Fr Lopez had sexually molested him when Eric was 11.

Eric's parents also demanded that Bishop Galvan take action to prevent the priest from harming other children, but the bishop reportedly transferred Fr Lopez to another parish.

The priest's current whereabouts are not known.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• Catholic World News
• Image: Pinterest

Facegloria attracted 100,000 users in its first month.

Users don't click "like" - instead they click "Amen".

"On Facebook you see a lot of violence and pornography. That's why we thought of creating a network where we could talk about God, love and to spread his Word," co- founder Atilla Barros said.

Swearing is banned - there is a list of about 600 forbidden words - as is any violent or erotic content, or photo or video depictions of homosexual activity.

More than 20 volunteers police content.

"We want to be morally and technically better than Facebook. We want all Brazilian evangelicals to shift to Facegloria," said Mr Barros.

Continue reading

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, was executed on January 18 at on Nusakambangan, Indonesia's execution island

Moreira was sentenced to death in 2004 after attempting to smuggle 13.4 kilograms of cocaine into Indonesia.

The only religious ministers available to counsel him immediately before his death were Buddhist, Muslim and Protestant.

A Catholic priest was refused access.

The Protestant minister offered Moreira counselling before the execution, but the prisoner reportedly didn't see him.

On the day before the execution, Oblate Fr Charles Burrows asked a prison official about administering last rites to Moreira.

"I maintained that a Catholic has the right to receive the Penance, Anointing of the Sick and Viaticum Sacraments before he is executed, and this is very important for a Catholic who will leave this world," Fr Burrows told ucanews.com.

The official apologised, but said only the district court could appoint religious counsellors and there were already Buddhist, Muslim and Protestant ones available.

Fr Burrows, who had counselled Moreira in another prison, was not allowed access in what media called an administrative mix-up.

The priest said that he later heard from other prisoners that Moreira wept when he was taken from his cell for execution.

"Marco said, ‘Help me! Help me!' He even defecated in his trousers because he was so scared," Fr Burrows said.

"It was only his aunt who came to accompany him. He was very upset."

Indonesian bishops' conference spokesman Fr Paulus Siswantoko said Moreira experienced a human rights violation in the last moments of his life.

"It's very concerning that the state couldn't provide [religious counselling]," he said.

Saying that the Catholic Church will always fight against the death penalty for anyone and for any reason, he said the state must also protect convicts on death row.

Five other drug smugglers were executed in Indonesia last month.

The executions of several more are planned.

Last week, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff refused to accept the credentials of the Indonesian ambassador to demonstrate her anger at Moreira's execution.

Sources

• UCANews
• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Independent

Bishop Erwin Krautler, prelate of Xingu (pronounced Shin-goo), has argued that the situation calls for drastic measures.

In April, he took his case to the Vatican, where he met with Pope Francis. Recently, Krautler and Cardinal Claudio Hummes, a friend of Pope Francis, presented the idea of ordaining married community elders to Brazil's National Conference of Bishops, which is now in the process of forming a commission to delve deeper into the matter.

Krautler said he counted himself among a group of bishops, mostly in the developing world, who see the ordination of such elders as a potential solution for the countless rural congregations that cannot receive the sacraments, including Communion, marriage and baptism.

"The situation of Xingu is not an exceptional situation," Krautler said. "All of the Amazon has the same problem of very few fathers for a large number of communities."

Krautler said Pope Francis has encouraged open dialogue on the issue and urged bishops at the national level to come up with "courageous" proposals to address the priest shortage.

"The celibacy of priesthood in the Western church is a matter of ecclesiastical discipline and therefore changeable," said James Conn, a Jesuit priest and professor of canon law at Boston College.

Since assuming office, Pope Francis has espoused flexibility, especially on nondoctrinal matters. In a July conversation with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he called celibacy a "problem" for the church and promised to find solutions. Continue reading