Commentary
On Oct. 17, 2022, around 300 Catholic priests and nuns met with the then-presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to openly declare their support for him in the second round of the elections that would take place on Oct. 30 that year.
These Catholic leaders came from different parts of the nation to publicly declare their support for the candidate of the extreme left.
They also conveyed the same support as other priests and nuns from numerous Catholic dioceses, institutions, and congregations.
On that occasion, these priests and nuns also produced an Open Letter entitled, “Commitment by Priests and Religious People to President Lula.”
In the document, they alleged a supposed “manipulation of the population through fake news” and “hateful speeches full of prejudices.”
Of course, these are false accusations used by the extreme left to undermine democracy and freedom of speech.
Totalitarianism With Lula Characteristics
As everyone knows, the Lula administration in Brazil fully controls the nation’s mainstream media and high-tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Uber, Instagram, and WhatsApp are providing registration data and contact numbers to the regime.
At the helm of this vast censorship scheme is Alexandre de Moraes, president of the Superior Electoral Court and a justice of the Supreme Federal Court. He is leading a tireless effort to stifle political dissent, including imprisoning individuals for content shared on the web.
On Nov. 21, 2022, President Lula awarded Justice Moraes with the Rio Branco Medal, an honour conferred only on those who accomplish “meritorious services and civic virtues” for the government.
According to American journalist Michael Shellenberger, “President Lula da Silva is participating in the push toward totalitarianism … What Lula and de Moraes are doing is an outrageous violation of Brazil’s Constitution and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.”
Love Is Not For The Rich, Radical Priests Say
Unfortunately, many are the Brazilian priests who believe in a form of “liberation theology” which postulates that the “oppressed” are committing a “sin” by not rebelling against the alleged “capitalist system.”
These priests would regard the desire conveyed in papal encyclicals for harmonious coexistence between social classes to be “self-deception.”
According to Leonardo Boff, a former Catholic priest, the capitalist system amounts to “the ‘666’ of the whore of Babylon.”
“There is no cure for this system. It must be overcome,” he claims.
Under this type of radical thinking, the later Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, better known as former Pope Benedict XVI, commented:
“The desire to love everyone here and now, despite his class, and to go out to meet him with the non-violent means of dialogue and persuasion, is denounced as counterproductive and opposed to love.”
“If one holds that a person should not be the object of hate, it is claimed nevertheless that, if he belongs to the objective class of the rich, he is primarily an enemy to be fought.”
Leornardo Boff left the priesthood in 1992 but he remains a prominent Catholic figure in Brazil.
In his 1987 book, O Socialismo Como Desafio Teológico—which can be translated as Socialism as a Theological Challenge—he postulates that the former communist regimes in Eastern Europe, especially the Soviet Union, “offered the best objective possibility of living more easily in the spirit of the Gospels and of observing the Commandments.”
Returning from a visit to the Soviet Union in 1987, just a few years before the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, he notoriously argued that these oppressive regimes were “highly ethical and… morally clean,“ and that he had “not noticed any restrictions in those countries on freedom of expression.”
When Mr. Boff was summoned in the 1980s by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the Vatican, Brazil’s only two cardinals accompanied him to the interrogation.
Responsible for matters of faith and doctrine, this body of the Church requested Boff to explain his concept of “ecclesial division of labour” by which the hierarchy of the Church supposedly engaged itself “in the gradual expropriation of the means of religious production from the Christian people.”
The fact that the country’s only two cardinals accompanied him to the interrogation was interpreted as “unprecedented support” for his radical positions.
Of course, the interest that extremists have in infiltrating the Catholic Church is not so difficult to explain. No revolutionary undertaking can be successful in a deeply religious society like Brazil without the support of the powerful Catholic clergy.
As with other Latin American nations, the Catholic Church “can still legitimate or discredit given values and attitudes with profound impact on the prospects of the people.”
Recognising this, the Cuban-Argentinean revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara once declared: “When the Christians have the courage to commit themselves completely to the Latin American revolution, the Latin American revolution will be invincible.”
The Case Of Frei Betto
One such radical priest is Carlos Libânio Christo OP, or Frei “friar” Betto, a political activist and Dominican friar.
Frei Betto accuses people tortured in the Cuban gulags, or executed by that communist government, or who have managed to escape from the country-island, to be, without any exception, either a criminal or deeply selfish.
Thus he suggested in a Jan. 4, 2004, article published by Brazil’s leading newspaper Folha de S. Paulo:
“If Cuba is so advanced socially, why do some people attempt to escape from this country?”
“The Cuban economy is socialist and does not accept individuals doing tourism outside the country; that is, it does not accept the evasion of capital for the purpose of individual gratification.”
“This, however, does not stop any Cuban citizen from travelling overseas at the expenses of the state for scientific, artistic, commercial, or diplomatic reasons. As for those who deserted Cuba in search of the ‘American way of life,’ I haven’t heard of any of such people trying to improve the conditions of the poor in the countries where they are now living.”
The Marxist Version Of The ‘Gospel’
In today’s Brazil, a basic problem stems from the fact that far too many priests still adopt radical Marxist concepts to their theological views. Marxism, of course, does not favour either democracy or the rule of law.
As Vladimir Lenin candidly explained in a lecture delivered in 1919, under Marxism, the law is primarily a mechanism “for holding the other subordinated classes obedient to the one class.”
In Marxist legal theory, the function of the judiciary is basically to hold everyone subjugated to the dominating class that controls the state, no matter which one this might be.
Of course, the world already knows that, in Brazil, an unpopular socialist president was elected via a controversial electoral system. He is now using top federal judges to persecute and arrest his political dissidents.
During the 2022 presidential election, these members of the federal judiciary issued numerous orders against alleged “fake news.” They ordered social networks to remove thousands of posts and arrested numerous supporters of the previous president without trial for posts on social media that they claim “attacked Brazil’s institutions.”
About 14 years ago, during President Lula’s second term, he sent a letter to the president of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) thanking him for “the support received from the Catholic Church during his almost eight years in office.”
The document states that the support of the Church was fundamental for the socialist government’s implementation of its most radical policies. Prior to this, the CNBB had already published a document declaring Marxist-oriented “liberation theology” as not only “timely” but also “useful and consistent with the Gospels.”
In a nation which is overwhelming Catholic, both in culture and “spirit,” such an infiltration of radical Marxists in the Brazilian Church has resulted in support for a socialist regime that has no regard for the rule of law and is presently responsible for gross, unconstitutional violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms.
On Oct. 17, 2022, around 300 Catholic priests and nuns met with the then-presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to openly declare their support for him in the second round of the elections that would take place on Oct. 30 that year.
These Catholic leaders came from different parts of the nation to publicly declare their support for the candidate of the extreme left.
They also conveyed the same support as other priests and nuns from numerous Catholic dioceses, institutions, and congregations.
On that occasion, these priests and nuns also produced an Open Letter entitled, “Commitment by Priests and Religious People to President Lula.”
In the document, they alleged a supposed “manipulation of the population through fake news” and “hateful speeches full of prejudices.”
Totalitarianism With Lula Characteristics
As everyone knows, the Lula administration in Brazil fully controls the nation’s mainstream media and high-tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Uber, Instagram, and WhatsApp are providing registration data and contact numbers to the regime.
At the helm of this vast censorship scheme is Alexandre de Moraes, president of the Superior Electoral Court and a justice of the Supreme Federal Court. He is leading a tireless effort to stifle political dissent, including imprisoning individuals for content shared on the web.
On Nov. 21, 2022, President Lula awarded Justice Moraes with the Rio Branco Medal, an honour conferred only on those who accomplish “meritorious services and civic virtues” for the government.
Love Is Not For The Rich, Radical Priests Say
Unfortunately, many are the Brazilian priests who believe in a form of “liberation theology” which postulates that the “oppressed” are committing a “sin” by not rebelling against the alleged “capitalist system.”
These priests would regard the desire conveyed in papal encyclicals for harmonious coexistence between social classes to be “self-deception.”
According to Leonardo Boff, a former Catholic priest, the capitalist system amounts to “the ‘666’ of the whore of Babylon.”
“There is no cure for this system. It must be overcome,” he claims.
Under this type of radical thinking, the later Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, better known as former Pope Benedict XVI, commented:
“The desire to love everyone here and now, despite his class, and to go out to meet him with the non-violent means of dialogue and persuasion, is denounced as counterproductive and opposed to love.”
“If one holds that a person should not be the object of hate, it is claimed nevertheless that, if he belongs to the objective class of the rich, he is primarily an enemy to be fought.”
Leornardo Boff left the priesthood in 1992 but he remains a prominent Catholic figure in Brazil.
In his 1987 book, O Socialismo Como Desafio Teológico—which can be translated as Socialism as a Theological Challenge—he postulates that the former communist regimes in Eastern Europe, especially the Soviet Union, “offered the best objective possibility of living more easily in the spirit of the Gospels and of observing the Commandments.”
Returning from a visit to the Soviet Union in 1987, just a few years before the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, he notoriously argued that these oppressive regimes were “highly ethical and… morally clean,“ and that he had “not noticed any restrictions in those countries on freedom of expression.”
When Mr. Boff was summoned in the 1980s by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the Vatican, Brazil’s only two cardinals accompanied him to the interrogation.
Responsible for matters of faith and doctrine, this body of the Church requested Boff to explain his concept of “ecclesial division of labour” by which the hierarchy of the Church supposedly engaged itself “in the gradual expropriation of the means of religious production from the Christian people.”
The fact that the country’s only two cardinals accompanied him to the interrogation was interpreted as “unprecedented support” for his radical positions.
Of course, the interest that extremists have in infiltrating the Catholic Church is not so difficult to explain. No revolutionary undertaking can be successful in a deeply religious society like Brazil without the support of the powerful Catholic clergy.
As with other Latin American nations, the Catholic Church “can still legitimate or discredit given values and attitudes with profound impact on the prospects of the people.”
The Case Of Frei Betto
One such radical priest is Carlos Libânio Christo OP, or Frei “friar” Betto, a political activist and Dominican friar.
Frei Betto accuses people tortured in the Cuban gulags, or executed by that communist government, or who have managed to escape from the country-island, to be, without any exception, either a criminal or deeply selfish.
Thus he suggested in a Jan. 4, 2004, article published by Brazil’s leading newspaper Folha de S. Paulo:
“If Cuba is so advanced socially, why do some people attempt to escape from this country?”
“The Cuban economy is socialist and does not accept individuals doing tourism outside the country; that is, it does not accept the evasion of capital for the purpose of individual gratification.”
The Marxist Version Of The ‘Gospel’
In today’s Brazil, a basic problem stems from the fact that far too many priests still adopt radical Marxist concepts to their theological views. Marxism, of course, does not favour either democracy or the rule of law.
As Vladimir Lenin candidly explained in a lecture delivered in 1919, under Marxism, the law is primarily a mechanism “for holding the other subordinated classes obedient to the one class.”
In Marxist legal theory, the function of the judiciary is basically to hold everyone subjugated to the dominating class that controls the state, no matter which one this might be.
Of course, the world already knows that, in Brazil, an unpopular socialist president was elected via a controversial electoral system. He is now using top federal judges to persecute and arrest his political dissidents.
During the 2022 presidential election, these members of the federal judiciary issued numerous orders against alleged “fake news.” They ordered social networks to remove thousands of posts and arrested numerous supporters of the previous president without trial for posts on social media that they claim “attacked Brazil’s institutions.”
About 14 years ago, during President Lula’s second term, he sent a letter to the president of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) thanking him for “the support received from the Catholic Church during his almost eight years in office.”
The document states that the support of the Church was fundamental for the socialist government’s implementation of its most radical policies. Prior to this, the CNBB had already published a document declaring Marxist-oriented “liberation theology” as not only “timely” but also “useful and consistent with the Gospels.”
In a nation which is overwhelming Catholic, both in culture and “spirit,” such an infiltration of radical Marxists in the Brazilian Church has resulted in support for a socialist regime that has no regard for the rule of law and is presently responsible for gross, unconstitutional violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms.