The Rio Olympics have been a “huge missed opportunity” to improve the lives of the country’s poorest, the overseas agency of the bishops’ conference has said.
With all eyes on Brazil for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Cafod said the plight of Brazil’s indigenous peoples and the Amazon should be centre-stage.
Esther Gillingham, Cafod’s Brazil programme officer, said: “Indigenous peoples are being murdered, criminalised, threatened, evicted from their land, and their rights to health and education are systematically violated.
“Instead of prioritising protection of indigenous people as the guardians of the lungs of our planet in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil’s interim government is implementing austerity measures, cuts to public policies, and constitutional amendments that aim to boost economic growth while destroying indigenous lands and livelihoods.”
She added: “The Rio Olympic Games are a huge missed opportunity to improve the lives of the poorest in Rio. They are also a missed opportunity to invest in the protection of human rights across the country.”
Cafod works closely with the indigenous communities of Brazil who are considered the most vulnerable in the country due extreme poverty and high infant mortality rates.
Gillingham said Brazil was experiencing its “worst political and economic crisis in decades”, with 25.8 million Brazilians living in poverty.
“While roughly £3.8 bn of taxpayers’ money is being spent on the Games, this money could be used to fund key social areas, such as health, education and indigenous rights which are facing unprecedented cuts.”
No Westminster ‘vocations drought’ as two join seminary
Rumours that the Diocese of Westminster had attracted no new seminarians this year have been quashed after it emerged that two men are starting their studies in September.A spokeswoman for the diocese said neither of the men is from a religious community and both will serve in parishes in the diocese.
Several sources had suggested there would be no new entrants to the seminary this year. In June, six men were ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Westminster.
This year’s number of seminarians beginning their studies in the diocese represents a decline compared with last year’s figures, when there were 11 new seminarians in total.
The number of men studying for the priesthood at Allen Hall, Westminster’s seminary, grew between 2000, when there were 22, and 2010, when there were 46. (The number includes men studying for other dioceses or religious orders.)
At the start of the 2011-12 academic year, the number grew to 50, when 16 men started their studies for the priesthood. Twelve of these were to serve in the diocese.
It was the sixth annual increase in the number of men starting their studies.
Walsingham statue goes on tour
Young Catholics are taking the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham on a two-week tour of Britain this month.Covering a total of 1,500 miles, the journey has been dubbed the Mercy Tour and has been arranged by the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham and Youth 2000. The statue will be stopping off at churches from Plymouth to Glasgow for evenings focused on adoration and Confession. The final event will be held on August 25 at Walsingham.
