People holding a Brazilian flag that reads "522,000 deaths, we won't forget" take part in a demonstration on 3 July 2021. (SERGIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images)
The situation appears "intolerable" according to one bishop reached by the Catholic Herald, while a priest called Bolsonaro "unworthy" to receive Communion By Eduardo Campos Lima -- São Paulo -- As the number of deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic grows in Brazil, Catholic Church leaders including bishops are gradually raising their voices against President Jair Bolsonaro and his controversial management of the crisis. Since mid-June, when the South American country reached 500,000 deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, the episcopal conference and a number of bishops have expressed their criticism on Bolsonaro’s erratic policies concerning the pandemic, at times with a fierce choice of words. From the beginning, Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the disease and rejected the adoption of nationally imposed social distancing measures, criticizing State governors and city mayors who have decreed partial lockdowns. He has attended his supporters’ public gatherings numerous times, usually failing to a wear a face mask. Critics say Bolsonaro also has put in doubt scientists’ and healthcare experts’ recommendations, has promoted ineffective medicines to treat Covid-19 (especially chloroquine and ivermectin) and has taken too long to buy vaccines, which resulted in a slow vaccination rollout. Till now, only 13 percent of the Brazilians have received two shots of the vaccine. The most recent manifestation was from Father Lino Allegri of Fortaleza, in Ceará State. On July 4, the 82-year-old Italian-born priest affirmed during Mass that Brazil has already seen “more than half a million deaths, and the person who holds the most important office in the country claims to be Christian, but hasn’t proved to be so,” according to the local newspaper O Povo. “You’ve seen that last week the President attended a celebration and received Communion. I think he received as his communion his own condemnation. Because there is a part in the Bible that says that the one who eats the Lord’s bread or drink from the Lord’s cup in an unworthy way, eats and drinks his or her own condemnation,” he said, referring to Bolsonaro's attendance at a Mass in Brasília on July 1. “He is unworthy because there’s no love for the other,” Allegri added. After the celebration, a group of eight enraged pro-Bolsonaro churchgoers broke into the sacristy and aggressively demanded an explanation from the priest. One of them told Allegri to go back to Italy. Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion had to take the group out of the church to avoid further disruption. Most criticism of Bolsonaro by the clergy is met with strong reactions from his supporters, particularly on social media. But data show support for the president could be on the wane. A recent poll showed that 62.5 percent of the Brazilians disapprove of his performance. Only 26.6 percent of the people intend to reelect him next year. At the same time, the left-wing opposition to his administration has been organizing growing demonstrations for his immediate impeachment. The strongest motivation among protestors is his handling of Covid-19. In this atmosphere, some bishops have become outspoken critics of the President. That is the case of Auxiliary Bishop Vicente Ferreira of Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais State. On June 14, he tweeted that Bolsonaro is a “Brazilian fascist” and asked God to deliver Brazilians from his “maladministration of death.”
