ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we offer an overview of reported abuse allegations, including sexual abuse, within Brazil’s Catholic Church, detailing accusations and media response. We analyze the case of the ultraconservative community Heralds of the Gospel to characterize abuse types, discuss the ecclesiastical logic and the devices that support an abusive structure that fosters the abuse of power, and identify the elective affinities of that community with the political far right of Brazil. We point out how the denunciations aired on social networks have contributed to triggering two movements: one, mobilizing the Catholic Church in Brazil, carrying out actions that fulfill the Vatican’s demands: listening and investigating. The other is to empower victims and their families when they publicly expose their suffering, revealing how secrecy and concealment benefit structures and aggressors. We delve into what we view as the Catholic Church’s paramount Brazilian challenge: whether it possesses the political determination to confront this issue amidst socioreligious polarization and loss of faithfulness. Our argument hinges on a repository sourced from criminal complaints and denunciations on the internet, research from publicly accessible secondary sources, and a recently published, country-scale journalistic investigation of unparalleled proportions.
