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DE RUEHSO #0464/01 1491751
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P 291751Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7013
RUEHWH/WHA DIPLOMATIC POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0565
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0277
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 SAO PAULO 000464 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/FO, WHA/BSC, EUR/WE, INR/R/AA, AND DRL/IRF 
NSC FOR FEARS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
USAID FOR LAC/AA 
PARIS FOR ECON - TOM WHITE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SCUL PREL PGOV PINR SOCI BR
SUBJECT: POPE BENEDICT'S VISIT TO SAO PAULO 
 
REF: (A) VATICAN 85; (B) SAO PAULO 250 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  001.2 OF 006 
 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  Pope Benedict XVI's four-day visit to Sao Paulo, the 
first trip to Latin America of his papacy, was received 
with popular enthusiasm and saturation media coverage.  In 
his several sermons and other public utterances, the Pope 
called on the faithful to adhere to Church rules on 
personal morality and to push back against the 
materialistic and secular values promoted by the mass 
media.  In his meeting with President Lula, the Pope spoke 
of his hopes to reach agreement on a concordat that would 
afford the Church a special status in Brazil.  Perhaps 
inevitably, his visit intensified the public debate 
surrounding proposals to legalize abortion in Brazil.  Pope 
Benedict also generated some controversy when, in his 
address inaugurating the Fifth General Conference of 
Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM), he 
asserted that the spreading of the gospel during 
colonization did not represent "alienation of pre-Columbian 
cultures nor the imposition of a foreign culture."  Though 
Brazilians gave the Pope a hearty welcome and especially 
appreciated the canonization of a revered 18th century 
friar, it is unclear to what extent and for how long his 
message will resonate here.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------- 
THE ABORTION DEBATE INTENSIFIES 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  A crowd estimated at about 15,000 gathered late on the 
afternoon of May 9 in downtown Sao Paulo in front of the 
monastery where the Pope was to be lodged.  Upon arrival, 
Pope Benedict appeared on the balcony to deliver brief 
remarks and a blessing.  By then, he had already sparked 
controversy with comments he made in an interview with 
traveling press on the plane.  Asked about the legalization 
of abortion in Mexico, the Pope indicated that when some 
Mexican bishops claimed that deputies who voted in favor of 
legalization had excommunicated themselves from the Church, 
this was "not something arbitrary" they were asserting, but 
rather a provision of canon law. 
 
¶3.  In the days leading up to the visit, the abortion issue 
was the subject of some intemperate exchanges between 
government and Brazilian church officials.  Health Minister 
Jose Temporao, accused some sectors of the Church of making 
"aggressive statements" that were "far from Jesus's 
teachings."  Special Secretary for Women's Policy Nilcea 
Freire opined that the Church and fundamentalist religious 
groups should not act as "censors" of public debate.  Dom 
Geraldo Majella, Archbishop of Salvador and outgoing 
president of the National Conference of Bishops (CNBB), 
accused the government of promoting promiscuity via its sex 
education program and by calling for a public debate on 
legalizing abortion.  President Lula split the difference 
by stressing on the one hand that abortion is first and 
foremost a public health question (though he as a Catholic 
personally opposes it) while noting at the same time that 
the Church is free to make its own decisions and take its 
own positions.  He subsequently indicated that it was up to 
Congress to decide whether to convoke a plebiscite on the 
question of legalizing first-trimester abortions, but that 
his administration would not sponsor such a proposal, as 
Minister Temporao had proposed.  The GoB makes condoms 
available at no cost as part of its programs combating AIDS 
and sexually transmitted diseases.  Abortion is illegal in 
Brazil, except in cases of rape or when the life of the 
mother is endangered by the pregnancy, but an estimated one 
million clandestine abortions are performed every year, and 
some experts believe the figure is much higher. 
 
¶4.  In the same interview, the Pope also reiterated his low 
opinion of liberation theology, asserting that "it is now 
clear that those easy millenarianisms, which promise 
revolutions and also sudden conditions for a just life, 
were mistaken.  Today everyone knows that."  At the same 
time, he acknowledged that the Church has been losing 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  002.2 OF 006 
 
 
members in Latin America and credited the "sects" (the 
growing evangelical and Pentecostal denominations) with 
giving the faithful something they were not getting from 
the Church, which he said needs to be more dynamic and 
missionary in its approach.  According to a recent 
Datafolha poll, Catholics now make up about 64 percent of 
Brazil's population, down from 75 percent in 1994, the 
first year the poll was conducted.  Of those, about one 
third attend Mass every Sunday.  Pentecostals now comprise 
17 percent of all Brazilians, and other evangelical groups 
5 percent. 
 
---------------------- 
CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  On May 10, the Pope met with President Lula and with 
Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra.  Per ref A, the signing of a 
concordat between Brazil and the Vatican was originally 
contemplated as a deliverable for this visit, but it soon 
became apparent that there wasn't enough time to conclude 
the negotiations.  Instead, Lula and the Pope expressed the 
hope of signing it before the end of Benedict's papacy, or 
of Lula's presidency (i.e., the end of 2010).  The Foreign 
Ministry is reportedly concerned that certain aspects of 
the text proposed by the Vatican could violate the 
principle of separation of church and state and might also, 
by granting the Church a privileged status, discriminate 
against other faiths.  After the meeting, GoB officials 
quoted Lula as having told the Pope that, "Our task is to 
preserve and consolidate the lay state and have religion 
deal with spirituality and social problems."  One point of 
divergence appears to be a Vatican proposal to make 
religious education obligatory in public schools.  Though 
the draft agreement reportedly does not mention abortion, 
many commentators expressed concern that a concordat would 
increase the Church's influence and thereby strengthen its 
hand in opposing legalization. 
 
¶6.  The Pope also had a brief ecumenical encounter with a 
group of religious leaders.  Participants included the 
President of the World Council of Churches, leaders of 
traditional Protestant (Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian) 
and Orthodox (Greek, Syrian) denominations, as well as 
Rabbi Henry Sobel of the Sao Paulo Jewish Congregation and 
Sheikh Armando Hussein Saleh, representing Muslims.  Some 
participants expressed disappointment afterwards that there 
was not sufficient time for any meaningful or substantive 
dialogue; the Pope greeted each of the religious leaders 
and delivered brief remarks on the importance of religions 
working together in the cause of God.  In addition, some 
observers pointed out that by reaching out to leaders of 
traditional religions, the Pope was essentially ignoring 
other important religious communities, especially the 
vibrant, growing evangelical and Pentecostal movements as 
well as Afro-Brazilian syncretic religions.  Others 
commented that neither Rabbi Sobel nor Sheikh Saleh can be 
considered truly representative of the Jewish and Muslim 
communities. 
 
------------- 
FAMILY VALUES 
------------- 
 
¶7.  Later the same day, the Pope preached to a crowd of 
approximately 40,000 young people from all over Latin 
America assembled in the city's main soccer stadium, with 
some 15,000 more watching on big screens outside, a smaller 
audience than expected by organizers.  His address was 
devoted almost entirely to questions of personal morality. 
Warning that they could become prey to the "assaults of 
materialism and laicism," the Pope called upon Latin 
American youth to venerate the family, respect the sanctity 
of marriage, and practice fidelity and chastity.  He also 
took the opportunity to deplore the environmental 
devastation of the Amazon region and the "threats to the 
dignity of its people."  The plight of the Amazon is the 
focus of the CNBB's 2007 Fraternity Campaign. 
 
¶8.  The high point of the Pope's visit came on May 11, when 
he said Mass for some 800,000 faithful - again, fewer than 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  003.3 OF 006 
 
 
the million that organizers had projected, due perhaps in 
part to the fact that the Mass was broadcast live on 
television - at an Air Force base in the northern part of 
the city.  He used the occasion to canonize Antonio Galvao, 
an enormously popular 18th century friar who is the first 
Brazilian-born person to become a saint.  His unusual 
albeit not unprecedented decision to celebrate the 
canonization in the new saint's home country instead of in 
Rome was portrayed by the Vatican as the Pope's special 
gift to Brazil, making is possible for Frei Galvao's 
devotees (and the beneficiaries of one of his certified 
miracles) to be present.  In his sermon, the Pope 
reiterated and expanded on some of the themes from his 
encounter with youth, calling on the faithful to emulate 
Frei Galvao and live "clean lives with clear souls and 
simple intelligence," and to "say no to those media of 
social communication that make a mockery of the sanctity of 
marriage and virginity before marriage." 
 
¶9.  In a meeting with Brazilian bishops in Sao Paulo 
Cathedral, the Pope expressed concern for those among the 
faithful who, due to the fragility of their faith, are most 
vulnerable to "the aggressive proselytism of sects" and are 
"incapable of resisting the onslaught of agnosticism, 
relativism, and laicism."  Noting that these are hard times 
for the Church, he lamented that "crimes against life are 
being justified in the name of individual freedom; attempts 
are made against human dignity; the wound of divorce and 
free unions is festering."  He also reiterated the 
importance of priestly celibacy and stressed the need for a 
good spiritual life to avoid "the risk of deviations in the 
area of sexuality." 
 
¶10.  The Pope traveled from Sao Paulo to the national 
shrine of Nossa Senhora Aparecida in the interior of Sao 
Paulo state.  On May 12, he visited the Estate of Hope in 
nearby Guaratingueta (Frei Galvao's hometown), a 
rehabilitation center for the chemically dependent operated 
by the Church.  Here he listened as some of the center's 
400 recovering addicts told their life's story.  He 
attributed the phenomenon of drug abuse to "a consumer 
society turned away from God" and warned that "God will 
demand satisfaction" from drug traffickers. 
 
------------------------- 
ADDRESS TO THE CONFERENCE 
------------------------- 
 
¶11.  On his last day in Brazil, Pope Benedict said Mass at 
the Shrine of Aparecida and formally opened the Fifth 
General Conference of Bishops of Latin America and the 
Caribbean (CELAM).  In his inaugural remarks, the Pope 
called upon the bishops to help the people "suppress the 
grave social inequalities and enormous differences in 
access to goods" that inhibit their ability to enjoy a full 
life "in the most human conditions, free from the threat of 
hunger and all forms of violence."    He praised ecclesial 
church communities throughout the region for stimulating 
lay participation in educational and assistance programs, 
but also expressed concern about "a certain weakening of 
Christian life in the whole of society...due to secularism, 
hedonism, indifference, and the proselytism of numerous 
sects, animist religions, and new pseudo-religious 
expressions."  The Church, Benedict said, is "the advocate 
for justice and for the poor, precisely by not identifying 
itself with politicians or with party interests," but 
rather by maintaining its independence and "teaching great 
standards and irreducible truths."  He criticized both 
capitalism and Marxism for their failure to appreciate the 
need for individual morality.  He highlighted the tragic 
legacy of Marxist governments and decried conditions in the 
western world, "where the distance between rich and poor 
grows constantly and a disturbing degradation of human 
dignity is produced with drugs, alcohol, and other subtle 
mirages of happiness." 
 
¶12.  It was in this address that the Pope, in assessing the 
significance of Christianity's historical pre-eminence in 
Latin America and the Caribbean, made a comment that he was 
later obliged to clarify.  For the peoples of the region, 
he said, acceptance of the faith meant "getting to know and 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  004.2 OF 006 
 
 
accept Christ, the unknown God that their forebears, 
without knowing it, were searching for in their rich 
religious traditions...In fact, the announcement of Jesus 
and his Gospel at no time involved an alienation of pre- 
Columbian cultures, nor was it an imposition of a foreign 
culture.  Authentic cultures are not closed around 
themselves nor petrified in a determined moment of history, 
but rather are open and even seek out encounters with other 
cultures, hoping to find universality in the encounter..." 
Indigenous leaders, the Brazilian government agency for the 
indigenous, and NGOs immediately took issue with this 
formulation, arguing that for many indigenous peoples, 
Spanish and Portuguese colonization and the Church's 
participation in it did in fact involve forced conversion 
and other serious violations of human rights.  Venezuelan 
President Chavez opined that the Pope should ask Latin 
America's indigenous for forgiveness for the "genocide." 
Ten days later in Rome, while recalling his visit to 
Brazil, the Pope tried to mend fences by acknowledging that 
"The memory of a glorious past cannot ignore the shadows 
that accompanied the evangelization of the Latin American 
continent." 
 
------------------ 
ONE BISHOP'S VIEWS 
------------------ 
 
¶13.  In the opinion of Auxiliary Bishop Pedro Luiz 
Stringhini, who heads the Sao Paulo Archdiocese's pastoral 
programs, the Pope, in stressing family and moral issues as 
opposed to social questions, was merely recognizing and 
adapting to generational change.  Young people, Bishop 
Pedro said, are for the most part not as interested in 
social action as his own generation was.  And while taking 
care of the poor, infirm, elderly, and marginalized 
populations had always been an important part of the 
Church's mission, pre-dating Marx by many centuries, the 
liberation theologians were wrong to frame the social 
debate in the language of Marxist dialectic.  Furthermore, 
while preaching social revolution was at least 
understandable when Brazil and much of Latin America were 
living under military dictatorship, it was less defensible 
now. 
 
¶14.  Liberation theology made an enormous contribution to 
Brazil, Stringhini acknowledged, by stimulating the 
formation of the ecclesial base communities that played a 
major role in opposing the dictatorship and continue to 
work to ameliorate the plight of the poor, but in the 
process the Church made the costly error of giving short 
shrift to the spiritual side of its mission.  Referring to 
the Church's "preferential option for the poor," Stringhini 
remarked ruefully that "we opted for the poor, and the poor 
opted for the evangelical churches."  The faithful, he 
said, expected the Pope and other Catholic leaders to act 
as moral policemen, and would have been disappointed if he 
hadn't reiterated Church teaching on.  Stringhini also 
noted that unlike the 1968 CELAM meeting in Medellin, this 
year's CELAM would generate continuity in the Church's 
profile in the region and not bring about fundamental 
change. 
 
-------------------- 
A SCHOLAR'S ANALYSIS 
-------------------- 
 
¶15.  According to Fernando Altemeyer, Professor of Theology 
at the Catholic University (PUC) of Sao Paulo, Pope 
Benedict won over a great many Brazilians just by showing 
up.  Many among the faithful, Altemeyer said, experienced 
some trepidation about his visit and his entire papacy, 
remembering him as the German "Panzer Cardinal" who had 
disciplined a number of Brazilian and other priests and 
theologians for straying from orthodoxy, in most cases 
because they were promoting or defending liberation 
theology.  Though he was certainly no John Paul II, 
Benedict demonstrated that he was a genuine human being who 
appreciated Brazilians and Latin Americans.  He appeared to 
speak Portuguese quite well (though Altemeyer noted that 
for the most part he was actually just reading speeches and 
sermons), and when he had trouble communicating, he simply 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  005.2 OF 006 
 
 
slipped into Spanish or Italian, and it worked.  His 
message was also generally well received, in part because 
it was what his audience expected him to say.  Many of the 
young who went to see him were quite conservative - tickets 
to the stadium event went to youths hand-picked by Church 
leaders - and appreciated his emphasis on family values. 
 
¶16.  That is not to say, Altemeyer noted, that young people 
practice the sexual morality the Pope preached.  Indeed, 
surveys show that on questions of sexuality and family 
planning, a sort of mutual "don't ask, don't tell" 
understanding operates in much of Latin America: 
Parishioners for the most part don't ask their priests for 
guidance on such questions, and don't tell them if they are 
cohabiting or using contraceptives; priests generally don't 
ask parishioners about the intimate aspects of their lives 
and don't tell them they have to abide by rigid rules. 
 
¶17.  The reason the issue of a possible concordat sparked 
concern among Brazilians, Altemeyer said, is that many of 
the republican leaders who overthrew Emperor Pedro II were 
freemasons who immediately severed all connection between 
Church and state.  This turned out to be one of the best 
things that ever happened to the Catholic Church in Brazil, 
he noted, because the Church was forced to learn how to 
fend for itself and at the same time was freed from state 
control.  The strict separation has become part of the 
national psyche.  Marriage can be either civil or religious 
or both, and divorce has been legal for thirty years. 
While religion should be taught in public schools as part 
of Brazil's history and culture, Altemeyer argued, even 
most Catholics do not want to see Catholic teaching as part 
of the public education curriculum.  The Vatican has 
different kinds of concordats with different countries, 
Altemeyer said, and it is difficult to know just what the 
Vatican has in mind for Brazil because the draft document 
is not publicly available.  This inevitably gives rise to 
speculation, some of it irresponsible. 
 
¶18.  The most important thing to understand about Pope 
Benedict's approach, Altemeyer said, is that he gives 
priority to quality over quantity.  His episcopal motto is 
"Collaborator with the Truth," and he sees himself and the 
Church as possessing the single truth, from which he will 
not permit deviation.  If this means there will be fewer 
Catholics, so be it, so long as the ones who remain in the 
Church fully accept that truth and follow the Church's 
teachings and commit themselves to serving God.  The Pope 
doesn't have any problem with Catholics being a minority in 
many places.  In his view, the best way to win lapsed 
Catholics back and to gain new converts is for the Church 
to return to its core values.  The real problem, in 
Altemeyer's view, is that Brazil's 18,000 priests - one for 
every 10,000 Brazilians - are increasingly overstretched 
and unable to meet the often competing demands of their 
routine parish functions, social and pastoral work in 
favelas, hospitals, and prisons, and missionary work to win 
new souls.  The decline in the number of priests is endemic 
in the Western Hemisphere.  One solution, he said, would be 
to permit volunteer married men to perform certain priestly 
and missionary functions, but Altemeyer does not expect the 
Church to adopt such a solution for perhaps another hundred 
years, and it, and he opined that it will probably take 
even longer for the Church to accept ordination of women. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶19.  Though the crowds who attended the Pope's public 
events were smaller than organizers had hoped for, they 
were nonetheless impressive, and those who were there were 
generally enthusiastic.  There was a "feel good" quality to 
the entire visit.  Much of the criticism that did take 
place was predictable.  For example, Leonardo Boff, an 
early liberation theologian who eventually left the 
priesthood after several times being disciplined by 
Cardinal Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the 
Faith, wrote that the Pope continues to insist on doing 
battle with modernity, "seeing in it the arrogance of man 
seeking to emancipate himself through his own strength," 
 
SAO PAULO 00000464  006.2 OF 006 
 
 
without seeking God's help...More than anything he sees in 
it secularism, materialism, and relativism."  Other 
Brazilians appeared not to enjoy being told how to live 
their lives.  However, many commentators were even-handed, 
giving the Pope credit for his straight talk and stressing 
that people were absolutely free to heed him or not, 
according their own judgment and the dictates of their 
conscience.  And there is no doubt that a great many 
Catholics were deeply moved by his presence and his words, 
and by the fact that of all the places he might have 
visited, he chose Brazil.  End Comment. 
 
¶20.  This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia. 
 
MCMULLEN