Brazil, Church in

Brazil’s Aparecida shrine will proceed with Father Rupnik’s project

By Eduardo Campos Lima, Our Sunday Visitor, March 19, 2024 People light candles in celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Aparecida at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in São Paulo Oct. 12, 2021. She is the patron saint of Brazil. (OSV News photo/Carla Carniel,... read more

Brazil’s Congress nixes government funding of abortions, sex changes for minors

By ACI Digital/Catholic News Agency, December 27, 2023 Just prior to its Christmas recess, the National Congress of Brazil passed an amendment to the Budgetary Guidelines Law (LDO) of 2024 that prohibits the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions and sex-change surgeries for... read more

Brazilian priest accused of schism faces canonical proceedings

By Luke Coppen, The Pillar, December 4, 2023 A Brazilian priest is facing canonical proceedings after his archdiocese said he had made schismatic statements and ignored restrictions on the use of pre-conciliar liturgical rubrics. The Archdiocese of São Paulo announced Nov. 29 that... read more

ITALIAN MISSIONARIES REFUSE TO CONVERT AMAZON TRIBE

By Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, July 31, 2023 Evangelicals supplant Catholics in converting tribals practicing infanticide ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - Evangelical missionaries are planting churches in a remote Amazonian tribe — while an Italian Catholic missionary... read more

Brazilian court prohibits ‘Catholic’ name for abortion advocacy group

Catholic News Agency Staff, November 1, 2020 A Brazilian court has ruled that “Catholics for the Right to Decide” must remove the term “Catholic” from its name, as the organization’s goals are incompatible with the values of the Catholic Church. The organization is an outgrowth of the... read more

Latin American bishops to ask Pope for married priests in wake of new Amazon exhortation

Close collaborators of the Pope made it clear that Francis' post-synodal exhortation Querida Amazonia did not close the door to the married priesthood. By Maike Hickson, LifeSite News, March 4, 2020 Monsignor Pirmin Spiegel, the head of the German bishops' relief agency Misereor, announced... read more

Pope Francis Sets Aside Proposal on Married Priests

The decision, in a letter on Catholic life in remote Amazon areas, is a victory for conservative forces who had warned that change there would put the church on a slippery slope. By Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, February 12, 2020 VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has... read more

Vatican officials: ‘Querida Amazonia’ is magisterium, Amazon synod’s final doc is not

By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, February 12, 2020 Pope Francis' post-synodal exhortation on the Amazon is part of the Church's ordinary magisterium -- that is officially a kind of Church teaching -- while the final document of the Vatican’s 2019 Amazon synod is not, Cardinal... read more

As evangelicals gain, Catholics on verge of losing majority in Brazil Feb 5, 2020

By Eduardo Campos Lima, National Catholic Reporter, February 5, 2020 A survey released in January showed that the percentage of Catholics in Brazil continues to decline, while the proportion of evangelicals has increased at a higher annual rate in the past few years. According to the... read more

There’s a Pony in Here Somewhere: A Post-Synodal Reflection

By George Weigel, First Things, October 28, 2019 According to his longtime consigliere, Edwin Meese, President Ronald Reagan must have told the “pony joke” at least a thousand times. The story involves the super-optimistic child whose parents take him to a psychiatrist, along with his... read more
Leonardo Boff with the future and current Pope Francis (circled)

81-year-old liberation theologian is an architect of the Amazon Synod

By Maika Hickson, LifeSite News, September 9, 2019 In recent weeks, there has been much discussion among solicitous Catholics about one of the inspirers of the upcoming October 6-27 Pan-Amazon Synod, Leonardo Boff. He is one of the founders of Liberation Theology and a co-author of Laudato Si,... read more
Prelates at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. (photo: Alessandra Tarantino.)

In synod’s married priests debate, somebody finally names elephant in the room

(Eduardo Berdejo/ ACI Prensa)

Amazon missionary bishop: Synod plans miss the real problems