The Jair Bolsonaro government loses “the horizon of ethics in relationships” when it allies itself with illegal mining and commits an aggression “by discrediting the Electoral Justice”, he tells Sheet Dom Leonardo Steiner, new Brazilian cardinal. And none of this is good news for democracy.
Dom Leonardo, 71, is cautious with his words, but his criticism of the president is unmatched.
At the end of May, Pope Francis announced the entry into the College of Cardinals of the Santa Catarina native of Forquilhinha, where the brothers Zilda Arns (founder of the Pastoral da Criança) and Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns were also born. Dom Paulo Cezar Costa, Archbishop of Brasília, is also on the list. The two must participate in the conclave that will choose the pontiff’s successor.
In a written interview, Dom Leonardo, since 2020 at the head of the Archdiocese of Manaus, defends indigenous peoples, the environment and the greater participation of Catholics in party life. “Politics must once again be an issue in bars, schools, universities, pastoral care,” he says.
What does the new wave of cardinals appointed by the pope, with many names outside the European axis, mean? It reveals the Catholic face of the Church. A universality that should always be more present. It demonstrates the desire for a Church that is always more inserted, more colorful, assuming the seeds of the presence of God incarnate in different cultures.
How can the Church be a compass in such polarized times? The compass is the Gospel that she seeks to proclaim and live. Polarization itself is not the problem. The problem lies in closed, combative, non-dialogue ideologies. An ideology that apparently defends a position, but is defending financial, dominator, mercantilist interests. It camouflages in saying what you are looking for as power. It appears as polarization, but hides the underlying interests, of domination.
Mr. is a voice of the Church for Amazonian issues. How do you see the Bolsonaro government’s view of illegal mining? It should be a voice! I’ve only been in the Amazon for a short time and I must better insert myself in reality to be a voice. Bishops, priests, religious, lay men and women have helped to make clear the glaring issues such as mining, violence, health, pollution. Mining is the aggression of the environment and, therefore, of the home of indigenous peoples, of our common home. The mining is destroying the waters. Mercury is a curse! For the owners of the garimpo, the lives of others, people, peoples do not matter. What matters is the gold, the money. Nothing else matters. The government has collaborated in this destruction, because it could protect, but it does not supervise, does not protect, attacks the institutions. Attitudes and speeches have encouraged mining and left indigenous communities unprotected. The horizon of ethics in relationships and, therefore, justice was lost.
The Catholic Church has been losing faithful and is going through a crisis after so many accusations of sexual abuse involving its clergy. How to get around this frame? It’s always better not to go around. Wise is the one who sits down, reflects, questions, prays, asks science for help and seeks the causes, without fear of seeing the truth. Saint Paul says, more or less like this: when I am weak, I am strong. Finding in weaknesses the strength to walk. This is true for evangelization, for belonging to the Church, as well as for abuse of minors. In evangelization, there was probably a lack of depth in catechesis, in initiation to the Christian life. The Word of God was lacking as an itinerary of faith. The Church has sought ways, not to increase the number of believers, but to demonstrate the beauty, the grandeur of being a Christian.
Why is the evangelical advance in Brazil so strong, to the point of threatening the Catholic majority? Is this an issue for the Church? It is a question as we ask ourselves what we are offering to the faithful. What is not reported is the growing number in Brazil and in the world of those who claim to have no religion. And the phenomenon has a path: people who go to one church, then to another and then to another, and end up disbelieving in the power of the Gospel by failing to participate in a church. More worryingly, they miss the truth dimension of religion. He enters into a kind of religious indifference. It is because faith precedes religion with its rites, dogmas, morals. To what extent are we trying to wake up to faith rather than religion? There is a demand for reflection and dialogue, not condemnation and contempt.
Evangelicals form one of the strongest fronts in Congress. There is a Catholic bench, but little is said about it. Mr. already defended the presence of Catholics in politics. How to make this happen? And I continue to encourage. The Christian must participate in politics and party politics. We all participate in politics, but in the Catholic Church ordained ministers do not join parties or espouse a party ideology. We are in a difficult situation, because politics has been attacked in such a way that the concept that people have of politics has become synonymous with corruption, with conspiracy. I have the impression that if democracy works badly, the profits can be higher. After achieving democracy, having passed through dictatorship, society stopped discussing and educating for politics. Politics must once again be a subject in bars, in schools, in universities, in pastoral care.
The attitudes and speeches [de Bolsonaro] have encouraged mining and left indigenous communities unprotected
The Church was very present in Brazilian politics until the 1980s. Why has this space shrunk? With the proclamation of the Republic came the reality of the lay State. But that did not mean the silence of the Church. Even because deputies, presidents, senators, governors, mayors, councilors were mostly linked to the Catholic Church or the [outras] churches. In that sense, it remains present. At the time of the dictatorship, the Church was the space where there was freedom to discuss politics, despite the fact that several people from the Church suffered persecution. The Church was accused of meddling in politics. She was careful, at least the historical ones, not to use the power of religion to elect its members and then create a bench.
Mr. has already publicly criticized Bolsonaro. How do you rate his government so far? Observations —if you will, criticisms, in the etymological sense of the word— refer to government actions. I participated in a session at the Federal Supreme Court in which the importance of the Judiciary was reaffirmed. On that occasion, I was offered the opportunity to express, on behalf of the CNBB presidency, the importance of the STF. The most serious thing is to deprive institutions of their value. The same could be said when Congress ceases to be the House of the People and becomes the house of interests of the caucuses. We could even ask where the poor find shelter, are they participants in political action?
The Church played an essential role in the fight against the military dictatorship. Today, Bolsonaro insists on a speech of demoralization of electronic voting machines. Will the Church and the CNBB take a stand? The Superior Electoral Court often shows the guarantee of electronic voting machines. If there hadn’t been this manifestation, the CNBB would have already manifested itself. The biggest aggression, in my view, is to discredit the Electoral Justice. Attack the institution responsible for the fairness of the election. The ministers show balance, not letting themselves be carried away by the attacks. They remain in the tranquility of those who know what they are doing for Brazil: guaranteeing clean elections, preserving democracy.
Is it important for the Church to take a stand against a candidate that it considers harmful to the country? Observations and criticisms are manifest before the elections. It has not nominated candidates and candidates. She expresses a position when she offers guidelines to vote well, to be ethically consistent.
Themes of the moral order, such as abortion and LGBTQIA+ causes, have polarized society. The foundation of morality is the love left by Christ: I give you a new commandment. A love that goes beyond sympathy, conflicting relationships. A love that has no enemies. We are all sons and daughters of God, regardless of actions, contradictions, sexual expressions, beauty, physical and spiritual deficiencies. Human life must be taken care of from the beginning. The beginning of a life means becoming a son or daughter of God. Perhaps the moral issue today should be the question of war and the poor. There is almost contempt for human life.
At the Amazon Synod in 2019, the possibility of ordination of women to the diaconate was discussed. Why didn’t she go forward? Women coordinate a large number of communities, and they have been entrusted with unordained ministries. In certain regions, they celebrate baptism. The question that arises, and that is being researched and reflected on, is whether the diaconate for women existed in the Church and whether there was ordination. To address the issue, the Pope has set up a Commission that will present the conclusions.
