Church in the World

Bishops threatened for defending Indians

Brazil

Bishops across Brazil are receiving death threats for protecting land used by native Indians and small-scale farmers, a Catholic charity has reported, writes Abigail Frymann.

Archbishop Luiz Soares Vieira, the vice-president of the Brazilian bishops' conference, and Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa, its general secretary, told Aid to the Church in Need that large-scale developers and timber barons were trying to take land from native Indians and are attacking the Church for speaking out against land grabs. Bishop Barbosa said that one of his fellow bishops, Erwin Kräutler of Xingu Diocese in the state of Para, could not leave his house without bodyguards, and wore a bulletproof vest while celebrating Mass. He said Bishop Kräutler had received death threats for trying to resolve land disputes in his diocese, by speaking up on behalf of indigenous people and small-scale farmers.

The Archbishop of Manaus said that during a dispute about land inhabited by four tribes, Raposa Serra do Sol in the north of Brazil, various Catholic missionaries and a mission station had been repeatedly attacked.

The area's local bishop, Roque Paloschi, reported "persecution by the state, by politicians who are always in favour of [large-scale] farmers and producers". Another bishop from the north of Brazil said that some landowners tried to stop their farm labourers and estate workers from getting to church.