Brazil's Patron Saint Pulled Into Latest Election Scrap
- False rumors claiming presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro plans to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her status as Brazil's patron saint have poisoned the final electoral campaign stretch. An abandoned 2007 bill proposed by a Bolsonaro-aligned lawmaker fueled the disinformation.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has referenced these claims on the campaign trail to court Catholic voters. Analyst Victor Araujo said Lula's decision to "give oxygen to rumours" signals "a sea change in how he engages with religious voters."
- On Friday, Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça ordered removal of these "notoriously untrue" posts through Brazil's Superior Electoral Court. On Sunday, Justice Flávio Dino overturned the ruling, arguing he did not see "a sufficient degree of certainty of illegality" to restrict expression.
- Accusing the government of spreading "fake news," Bolsonaro denied the allegations. The saga exposed deep tensions between Brazil's Catholic majority and its expanding evangelical population, with Catholics supporting Lula and evangelicals backing Bolsonaro.
- Polling indicates Lula leads among Catholics at 48 percent versus 29 percent for Bolsonaro, while evangelicals favor Bolsonaro at 46 percent versus 27 percent for Lula. If no candidate wins outright on Sunday, a runoff is scheduled for October 25.
75 Articles
75 Articles
The Brazilian president and candidate for reelection, Luis Ignacia Lula da Silva, fed this Tuesday in the final stretch of the campaign a false news about an alleged anti-Catholicism of his rival Flávio Bolsonaro. Five days after the first round of the elections, Lula pledged during an act in the city of Fortaleza to keep the Virgin of Aparecida as patron saint of Brazil, in front of rumors that Bolsonaro wants to remove that title, something he…
A falsehood about Brazil's patron saint pits Supreme Court justices against each other mid-campaign
A false report that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro backed stripping Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Brazil's patron saint has produced contradictory rulings from three Supreme Federal Court justices, a clash with the Catholic bishops' conference and a dispute dominating the final week of campaigning before Sunday's vote.
São Paulo, Sep 29 (EFE).- The Brazilian president and candidate for reelection, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, fed this Tuesday in the final stretch of the campaign a false news about a supposed anti-Catholicism of his rival Flávio Bolsonaro. Five days after the first round of the elections, Lula committed himself during a [...] The entry Lula feeds false anti-Catholic news about Flávio Bolsonaro in campaign final straight was first published in Hol…
Radio France Internationale
rtl.luBrazil's patron saint pulled into latest election scrap
Only a tiny portion of Brazilians remain undecided ahead of a first-round election on Sunday in the deeply polarized nation. In recent days, leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has referred to rumors on social media claiming that his rival Flavio Bolsonaro planned to strip the country's beloved patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, of her title if elected. "As long as I am president... no one is going to disrespect Our Lady of Aparecida,"…
The patron saint of Brazil found herself at the heart of a lively controversy a few days before the Brazilian presidential election.
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