Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters and journalists as he arrives to give a news conference in Brasilia. Photo: CNS Eduardo Campos Lima
Catholic leaders in Brazil have criticised the response of the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, saying he has not implemented common measures such as social distancing.
The Church in Brazil has defended the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations, an attitude that many of Bolsonaro’s backers see as an open defiance of his administration.
In the past few weeks, major authorities in the Brazilian Church and members of the clergy have made harsh public statements against the pandemic denialism disseminated by the Bolsonaro administration.
On different occasions, the president has played down the risk of Covid-19, calling the disease a “little flu”. Bolsonaro has also pushed back against the social distancing measures and lockdowns imposed by the governors of several Brazilian state governments, insisting that only the elderly and other vulnerable populations should be isolated.
Bolsonaro has been a vocal publicist of the properties of chloroquine to fight the coronavirus, even though there has not yet been a conclusive study on its effectiveness.
The Brazilian president has been adamant his main concern is protecting the economy of his country, even though his own Minister of Health, Dr Luiz Henrique Mandetta, has argued that confinement is the only way to contain the virus.
Support
Since the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in Brazil, the Church has been vocal in its support of protective measures imposed to stop the pandemic. While several Pentecostal denominations continued holding large church services and downplayed the disease, the Church adhered to the measures imposed by state and city governments and suspended liturgical celebrations.
On April 7, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) and other civil society organisations signed a ‘Pact for Life and for Brazil’, in which they urge the Brazilian society to follow the WHO’s social distancing recommendation and to “repudiate the discourses that debunk such strategy’s efficacy, putting in danger the Brazilian people’s health and survival”.
In the document, the organisations argue that the government should implement several social assistance policies, in order to preserve the “people’s employment, income, and work”.
“We recognise that the people’s health and the country’s production capacity are essential for everyone’s well-being. But we advocate, once more, the primacy of work over capital, of humanity over finance, of solidarity over competition.”
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During Holy Week, Archbishop Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo expressed his concerns with the Bolsonaro administration’s handling of the pandemic.
“Civil society has the duty and the responsibility of addressing the federal government, presenting ponderations, admonishing it. (…) The CNBB seeks to collaborate with Brazil and to help the ones who exert power. That requires courage to manifest disagreements,” he said.
While the episcopate officially expressed its pro-quarantine stance, several members of the Brazilian clergy also used social media to voice criticism of Bolsonaro’s stance, sometimes garnering thousands of views.
“This is not the time to loosen confinement,” said Fr Juarez de Castro. “Each one to his trade, Mr President. Physicians do what physicians must do. Scientists do what scientists must do. Presidents do what presidents must do. Each one to his trade, Mr President.
“Who wants to loosen confinement? The rich, the businessmen who are worried about their companies without workers. But they have good hospitals for themselves. They can buy ventilators and take them everywhere if they want,” the priest continued.
Since the 2018 electoral campaign, Fr Castro has been called a “communist” by several supporters of Bolsonaro.
“But I haven’t assumed any party disposition. I have only assumed the Church’s stance: to defend life in all its length, from the beginning till the end. As a priest, I represent a millennial institution with a long record of defending life and people,” he said.
Fr Castro said that the Church has no favourite political party and doesn’t support any candidate, but has “a political stance when it comes to the defense of life”.
“The Church hasn’t hesitated to suspend Masses and public encounters everywhere in the world and has alerted all its followers to stay at home. In that video, I vehemently repeated the responsible stance of scientists and of the Church in defense of life,” he said.
Everyone who opposes President Bolsonaro’s decisions is called a ‘communist’. This is a fundamentalist delusion”
“To transform this debate in a battle of political parties is to impoverish all efforts that physicians, scientists and authorities are doing to defeat a common enemy.”
In the opinion of Dr Paulo Cesar Fontão, a Catholic physician and university professor, Bolsonaro’s vocal opposition to social distancing measures has served as an incentive for many people to leave their homes.
“Sadly, the results of it are coming within two weeks. But the Church hasn’t changed its attitude,” he said.
“The Catholic Church has been very coherent and courageous. Unfortunately, courage is needed at this point in order to contradict some official declarations,” he said.
Dr Fontão said that the quarantine is the best decision to deal with the pandemic, saying it is not only “science’s recommendation” but “also the Pope’s”.
According to Fr Rino Bonvini, an Italian-born priest living in Brazil, Bolsonaro’s position towards the pandemic is the result of a movement of political and religious fundamentalism in the country.
“Everyone who opposes President Bolsonaro’s decisions is called a ‘communist’. This is a fundamentalist delusion,” he said.
Bonvini has no doubt that social distancing is the best way of dealing with the pandemic from an epidemiological perspective.
“I have colleagues that are working on the frontline in Italy,” he said. “They always tell me that everybody should stay home to avoid contagion.”
Eduardo Campos Lima is a Special for Cruxnow