Building Bridges in Brazil

By Richard N. Ostling

John Paul II arouses fervor and preaches justice and unity

At a Mass near the mouth of the Amazon, the white-robed celebrant blessed pythons, tortoises and wild boars. During a motorcade through the city of Salvador on Brazil's coast, crowds threw flowers, danced sambas and fired off skyrockets. Some Brazilians spent hours in drenching rain or under a blazing sun just for a glimpse of Pope John Paul II. As in Zaire last May, the papal pandemonium also produced tragedy; three people were trampled to death and 30 injured during a stampede into a stadium in Fortaleza.

Still, the twelve-day papal visit to Brazil that ended last week was perhaps the most triumphal of the globetrotting Pope's seven journeys. From the prosperous southern metropolis of Porto Alegre to the impoverished agricultural lands of the north, the Polish-born Pontiff proved a spellbinding presence, drawing crowds of a million or more on at least six occasions. Smiling, kissing babies, entering the hovels of the poor, John Paul also spoke on almost every national problem--Indian rights, rural poverty, urban slums, labor struggles, human rights. Yet he mixed his appeals for social justice with stern warnings against violence and Marxism.

The Pope's 9,000-mile pilgrimage within Brazil came at a time when relations between the Vatican and bishops of the largest Roman Catholic nation were badly strained. Many Brazilian bishops resent the Vatican's investigation of Leonardo Boff, Brazil's leading proponent of "liberation theology," which is built upon Marxist economic theory. When the Vatican asked Progressive Paulo Evaristo Cardinal Arns to discourage a meeting of liberation theologians, he pointedly ignored the request. In turn, the Pope has rejected the suggestions from the Brazilians in his past four appointments of new bishops for their country.

But Brazil's progressive bishops and clergy were delighted by the Pope's bridge-building gestures toward them. In Recife, John Paul warmly--and publicly--embraced Archbishop Helder Camara, 71, detested by the conservative military regime for his advocacy of peasant rights; Dom Helder had not been seen on Brazilian television in eight years. In Salvador, the Pope issued a blunt warning to Latin America's rulers: "The realization of justice in this continent presents a clear dilemma: either it will be done through profound and courageous reform, according to principles that express the supremacy of human dignity, or it will occur--but without lasting results and without benefit for mankind--by the forces of violence." In other words: change now or face bloody revolution.

If liberals thought they had captured their visitor, John Paul quickly indicated that his liberal social views were entwined with a strong streak of conservatism. At an eight-hour session with most of Brazil's 345 bishops at Fortaleza, he told them they had the "right and duty to practice a social pastorate." But he firmly attached three conditions: there must be no sacrifice of spiritual mission, no "participation in political party activity" by the clergy and no Marxist "concentration of all in the hands of the state." Said the Pope: "We are not experts in politics or economics . . . We are ministers of the Gospel."

The Pope also touched on some particularly Brazilian problems. As many as 40 million Brazilians mingle their Roman Catholicism with spirit cults, the most popular being Candomble, brought from West Africa by slaves. At a Mass in Candomble country, John Paul repeated a theme of his African tour: Christianity can accept the "cultural expressions of any people," but must not "mutilate" its own teachings. The Pontiff also sought to heal breaches within the church itself, advising the hierarchy to compromise and avoid squabbling.

It remains to be seen whether soothing words will help ease the Brazilian church's other chronic problem: a manpower shortage. There are only 13,000 priests--40% of them foreigners--in a nation of 120 million people. Because many of the most outspoken activist priests are foreigners, the regime is proposing a tougher immigration law that could cause serious trouble for the missionaries. Though many Brazilians contend that the celibacy requirement is to blame for the difficulty in recruiting priests, the Pontiff believes that a loss of priestly identity is at the root of the problem. With his visit, the Pope offered a stunning demonstration of how he envisions the priestly role: one in which political involvement is carefully limited and thus is all the more effective. As one government official acknowledged last week, "Brazil is not likely to remain the same."

--By Richard N. Ostling.

Reported by George Russell and Wilton Wynn/Rio de Janeiro

With reporting by George Russell, Wilton Wynn

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