Brazil and the Pope

The Pope has had tremendous impact on every country he has visited; but to understand why this was especially so for Brazil, and why this trip was of lasting significance for the Church throughout Latin America, one must look not merely at John Paul’s character and outlook but at the special situation of Brazil and its relationship with the Church.

The Portuguese, who colonized the country, are far more flexible, less fanatical, more easily given to compromise than are the Spaniards, who colonized the rest of the continent; less insistent on principle, more humane, but also more emotional and far more open to seduction. (There is a larger proportion of African than Indian blood in the veins of many Brazilians.) Brazil’s separation from the motherland did not result from a revolution, as happened in the Spanish colonies; the Portuguese prince acting as regent in Brazil simply declared the colony independent. The new dynasty lasted from 1822 until 1888, and Brazil, alone within Latin America, still has solid monarchist sentiments. The memory of the Bragaça dynasty forms part of the national patrimony.

EK

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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

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The Pope has had tremendous impact on every country he has visited; but to understand why this was especially so for Brazil, and why this trip was of lasting significance for the Church throughout Latin America, one must look not merely at John Paul’s character and outlook but at the special situation of Brazil and its relationship with the Church.

The Portuguese, who colonized the country, are far more flexible, less fanatical, more easily given to compromise than are the Spaniards, who colonized the rest of the continent; less insistent on principle, more humane, but also more emotional and far more open to seduction. (There is a larger proportion of African than Indian blood in the veins of many Brazilians.) Brazil’s separation from the motherland did not result from a revolution, as happened in the Spanish colonies; the Portuguese prince acting as regent in Brazil simply declared the colony independent. The new dynasty lasted from 1822 until 1888, and Brazil, alone within Latin America, still has solid monarchist sentiments. The memory of the Bragaça dynasty forms part of the national patrimony.