Cardinal-to-be condemns lack of social inclusion

Archpishop Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro, named as a cardinal by Pope Francis on 12 January, has called for an understanding of the latest protest phenomenon in Brazil, in which massed ranks of predominantly black young people from deprived areas pour into shopping malls, writes Francis McDonagh.

These demonstrations, which have led to the closure of malls in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília, are a continuation of protests that exploded across Brazil in June last year, over the contrasting levels of expenditure on public services and this year’s World Cup in Brazil.

Archbishop Tempesta described the protests as a sign that young people needed “to be part of things”, though he condemned the violence that has occurred in some demonstrations.

The cardinal-designate was speaking on 22 January in Brasília, where he had gone to invite President Dilma Rousseff to attend the consistory on 22 February, where he will receive the red hat. Brazil’s president is not a practising Catholic, but her spokesperson said she respects the faith, and has three statues of Brazil’s patron saint, the black Virgin of Aparecida, in her office.

The archbishop also condemned Brazil’s notoriously overcrowded prison system. “For all the new prisons and new initiatives, we don’t succeed in re-educating people,” he said. Brazil’s bishops’ conference is supporting a 2 February march led by the bishops in the north-eastern state of Maranhão over prison conditions there.