Are They Lacking Courage to Ask for Proof? – Folha de S. Paulo, December 18, 1976
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Thirty-two days ago, the CNBB [National Conference of Brazilian Bishops] Representative Commission, composed of about 40 bishops, issued a “Pastoral Communication to the People of God.” Public opinion was sharply alerted by the subversive document, and its dissemination quickly escalated into a full-blown scandal. It took many days for the public, torn between nausea and good nature, to think about something else.
Then another scandal of the same kind occurred. The “Pastoral Land Commission,” which describes itself as “an organization linked to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil” and comprises President Moacyr Grechi, bishop-prelate of Acre-Purus; Executive Secretary Fr. Ivo Poletto; and representatives of the 14 regional offices, issued a manifesto on events in the state of Pará that is subversive from beginning to end.
The document denounces the “physical and psychological” torture to which Fr. Florentino Maboni was allegedly subjected and notes the “alarming frequency with which individuals arrested in the name of ‘national security’ sign ‘confessions’ and make ‘retractions’ in exchange for the freedom they are then granted.” It also mentions that the bishops of Conceição do Araguaia and Marabá, Estevão and Alano, “were also subjected to grueling interrogations for two days.” It then refers to “pastoral agents and squatters who are still in prison” and describes as fraudulent the “escape” (sic) of a former soldier accused of murdering Fr. Penido Burnier. After calling for the punishment of those responsible for the murders and torture, it concludes by echoing the words of the “Pastoral Commission to the People of God”: “However, the mere punishment of the crimes’ perpetrators cannot ease the conscience of the authorities as long as the socio-political and economic system continues to generate a social order marked by injustice and conducive to violence.”
As can be seen, after hitting this and that, the barrage of accusations extends to the entire current political, social, and economic structure and, implicitly, to all those who direct, sustain, or defend this order.
As if that were not enough, it then makes a serious accusation against the Judiciary, stating that we live in a “system where money buys justice and consciences.”
Quite understandably, the Pastoral Land Commission’s manifesto expresses solidarity with the previous pro-communist ecclesiastical document: “We also wish to express our unrestricted support for the CNBB for its prophetic ‘Pastoral Communication to the People of God.'”
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Taken together, all these accusations create a sense of vertigo.
It is difficult to understand how clergymen who hold important positions in an organization linked to the CNBB can be so irresponsible. Our leftist bishops constantly complain about torturers and human rights violators. Do they realize that their attitude constitutes a form of spiritual torture for all of Catholic Brazil—I mean authentically Catholic Brazil—that is capable of reading and evaluating documents like these?
Accusations are a very serious matter. No one has the right to make accusations without providing supporting evidence. Any child knows this.
Violating this rule amounts to denying one of the most basic and clear “human rights”: the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Dragging someone else’s reputation through the mud without sufficient evidence discredits the accuser far more than the accused. The accuser reveals himself to be an unjust aggressor, worthy of repulsion.
This assertion is all the more true when the aggressor uses unfair means to commit their evil deed.
Now, in matters of moral aggression—which is what we are dealing with—I know of no means more unjust than the abusive use of the credibility still attributed to the word of the bishop and priest in certain circles to circulate accusations without proof.
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Let us set aside Fr. Maboni’s case and Father Burnier’s murder. They are subject to the Judiciary’s consideration, which is responsible for examining them in all aspects and rendering its impartial verdict. Until that happens, it is incomprehensible that ecclesiastical authorities should anticipate the pronouncement of the competent authority and begin discussing the matter with such aggressiveness. However, even worse is the attitude of the Pastoral Land Commission, which, perhaps anticipating a solution it does not like, is already accusing the country’s entire Judiciary of venality.
With what evidence? Have the Commission members forgotten that a judge is no less a man than a priest or a communist agitator, and that he has no less right to his own reputation than they do?
The same can be said of those currently responsible for the prevailing political, social, and economic order.
The episcopal body asserts that the authorities that support it cannot have a clear conscience. Because all authorities support this order, the Commission has turned against all of them, not only the Judiciary.
Even if this order has unjust accidental aspects (what does not, in this vale of tears?), is it unjust in itself? Are the Commission members unaware of the numerous papal documents from all times on which it is based? By what right, then, does the Commission seek to subject thousands of Brazilians to the true torture that is, for the good man, a doubt of conscience?
Thousands? I would say millions, because millions of Brazilians are left unsure of what to think. Faced with this abyss of unjust and literally persecutory acts committed by agents of the Spiritual Power, they are discouraged, perplexed, and anguished.
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To conclude, just one more observation. The Ministry of Justice has responded to all this baseness with a calm, elevated tone that carries the full weight of a challenge, in which it defends the honor of the vilely reviled public authorities.
The document states that the Pastoral Commission’s accusations “are not based on any evidence.” This is obvious. The Ministry’s statement implicitly challenges the accusers to present their evidence. Seven days have passed, yet no evidence has been presented, and everything suggests none will be.
The Ministry of Justice’s note goes on to refer to “subversion and disorder, often fueled by those who, far from cooperating with the authorities’ efforts, incite the naive, ally themselves with agitators, and foment unrest, thereby contributing to undesirable outcomes that they then exploit tendentiously.”
On this topic, the Ministry makes a very serious accusation against many misguided ecclesiastical authorities.
Will they, in turn, have the courage to ask the government for evidence? In these seven days, there has been no sign of such a request.
Why, so uninhibited and loquacious in their accusations, do they seem so wilted and cautious in their defense?
