The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, issued a statement congratulating Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, cardinal archbishop emeritus of São Paulo, for his 90 years. A former political prisoner and tortured honored the pastor which angered the military dictatorship, by visiting the "basement” of the regime, to travel to Rome and report what he saw in interviews.
Dilma recalled the "priest who, in a crucial moment in the political life of our country, was a flash of light and hope for all Brazilians who did not follow the authoritarian regime and political persecution, and dreamed of a Brazil free and more socially just, " she added.
The presidency note emphasizes that he "used his energies in the battle for freedom, defending human rights, embracing and protecting those persecuted by the dictatorship, helping poor people, on behalf of their citizenship rights, and combating social inequalities", said the head of State.
She pointed that the religious leader of the largest Catholic diocese in Brazil, at the time, "defended the union leaders in strikes, gave decisive support to movements against the high cost of living, unemployment and for direct elections," leaving a legacy of resistance , firmness and determination.
Arns was aware since childhood of being the son of a rural worker. "Dad is a settler, and you even after you study hard, will always be the son of a settler and his people," he heard. The boy grew, he was ordained priest at 24 years and has studied for 12 years, to be a doctor from the University of Sorbonne, in France, not forgetting the people who he was and whence he came.
Faced with the marks of the atrocities in Europe, with the social inequality of post-war and the reality of those who fought against Nazi intolerance. This was vital to deal with the country in booming of dictatorship, in a capital without color on the walls and soul of its inhabitants, who pushed to the periphery the migrants of all parts of country, in 1966.
With the theological developments of Vatican II, seeking response to the evils of reality, an effort that gave rise to liberation theology – with her preferential option for the poor and the consciousness of the masses – the former Auxiliary Bishop of Petrópolis was hoisted from the Archdiocese in just four years, determined to confront the oppression, unabated in front of repression in the periphery and not with the invasion of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo.
When the journalist Vladimir Herzog died, in a torture center in São Paulo, Rabbi Henry Sobel asked the support of the Catholic Archbishop, who has called Pastor James Wright, of United Presbyterian Church. Political scientists said that this ecumenical act caused such a commotion, which became the beginning of the fall of dictatorship.
Faced with the need, followed the guidance of the only pope to have a message censored by the military dictatorship. "Pope Paul VI said to Dom Paulo that he should have a fine team of auxiliary bishops who should be near the people." Arns sold the Palace Pio XII and went to live in a loft. With the money, paid for land and built houses in the suburbs, encouraged the Basic Ecclesial Communities - which today grow up in neighborhoods struggling citizenship, theology and politics - and encouraged the pastorals.
The support was used sparingly. In the 1970s, bishops linked to conservative society Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) was asked that the generals to expel Dom Pedro Casaldaliga, of São Félix do Araguaia Prelature, called a communist. The cardinal flew to Rome, and Pope Paul VI sent a message: "Touch in Peter is touch on the Pope."
Life dedicated to the poor and persecuted, while completing 90 years this brother lives in a small congregation in São Paulo periphery since 2007, under the care of Sister Devanir de Jesus, who describes he as "an enlightened person, easy care and very kind." And adds: "I grow every time that I knew him."
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