A Igreja Católica em São Paulo no período da ditadura militar

Abstract

This essay has as objective the analytical and interpretive study, about the speech and works of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in São Paulo’s metropolitan region, during the period of the Military Regime in Brazil from 1964 to 1985. In this research, it was found that the voice of the Catholic Church, in national level, it is notunison when it comes to this period of the Brazilian history, with many different backgrounds influencing Sao Paulo-based bishops’ during the Military Dictatorship. In this period, several situations combined into themselves, as a challenge, both to the Catholic Church in São Paulo and to the civil society: the disorderly growth of the city causing social and economic problems; the military dictatorship, with the consequent persecution and arrest of the leftists and any opposite flow including religious men and women, as well as the strict implementation of censorship to the means of communication; to the Church’s evangelization works in the city in light of the II Vatican Council and the Latin American Episcopal Conference of Medellin. During this period, by contemplating the relations between politics and religious fields, I highlighted the situation of the country in that t moment and the important role of the Catholic Church in the process of overcoming the political regime, with paramount actions in defense of the oppressed