The Toad Wants Coexistence and Comblin – Folha de S. Paulo, July 30, 1969
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
I ran into my childhood and high school friend once again. He seemed to have completely forgotten the bitterness with which he had said goodbye to me a few days earlier. When he saw me walk into the restaurant, he smiled broadly and waved his hand, inviting me to sit with him.
“I have news for you, he said triumphantly.”
His first bit of news wasn’t really news but an insult.
“So,” he began, “the… the…” and he searched for a name that refused to come to mind.
“The… who?” I asked.
“Why, the Secretary of Security of Minas Gerais.”
I also tried to remember his name, but I couldn’t, and three people from that state weren’t at the table.
“Anyway,” my toad continued, “what a great man this Secretary is, huh? He really shut down your campaign throughout Minas. Well done! That’s what should be done throughout Brazil. I don’t understand the Federal Government’s softness.”
“Don’t you call yourself a Christian Democrat?” I replied. As a Christian, you should support our campaign against IDO-C and the ‘Prophetic Groups,’ which infiltrate atheism into the Church. As a democrat, you should believe in freedom of expression protected by the Constitution. Therefore, you should protest against the Secretary’s measure.
“Here’s your tirade,” the toad barked. “If you go out onto the streets, the communists will also have the right to do the same, and clashes are bound to happen. I believe the December 13 coup was meant to stop situations like this; let’s have equality for everyone and peace in Brazil.”
“Oh, this is serious,” I exclaimed, “and very serious. So the coup was the opposite of what all Brazilians thought.”
Rather than banning the communists, it established a kind of Communist Statute. Communists are granted the right to infiltrate any place they choose. If anyone publicly opposes this serious threat, the communists can stop them by force, and the police will not intervene. The police will only act to silence those warning the nation about the covert spread of communism. Is this the sort of peaceful coexistence you support?
“Yes, exactly. By preventing the TFP from protesting in the streets, the Minas Gerais Security Secretary ensures the communists can’t do it either. If the TFP takes to the streets, they will do the same. That’s equality!”
“Equality between outlaws and us? What’s the law, then? A joke?”
Look, Plinio, whether you like it or not, that’s just how it is. The Secretary did the right thing. The TFP campaign has been shut down across the entire state, and that’s great!
At this point, one of our fellow diners from Minas Gerais addressed the toad diplomatically and softly: “Listen, you’re going beyond the Secretary. He banned the TFP campaign in public places, not their door-to-door campaign.” The toad smiled and said, “Don’t be more secretarial than the Secretary.” And he frantically chewed on some poor shrimp, worthy of better luck, and pretended not to have heard.
I decided to provoke him: “Even so, I categorically disagree with that Secretary… in fact, the only one in Brazil who understands the mission of the police in this strange way.”
The toad jumped up: “Not just him. Bishop Zattera, too.” This time, I was the one who jumped up: “What do you mean? Dom Antonio Zattera, bishop of Pelotas?”
The toad pulled a small newspaper from his pocket, unfolded it, and showed it to me eagerly. It was a Pelotas newspaper dated July 9. It reported that the Pelotas Regional Chief of Police had banned our campaign in the city at Bishop Antonio Zattera’s request; he disapproved of our methods. I watched in surprise. One of my friendly Minas diners interpreted my thoughts: “Curious,” he said. “In Brazil, the Church is separate from the State, but in Pelotas, the police act as if the Inquisition still existed. If the bishop doesn’t like something, the police ban it.” The other ‘Mineiro’ friend added with quiet malice: “I wonder if they’ll ban Protestant propaganda there?”
The toad had just finished crushing the last shrimp. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think Bishop Zattera is an enlightened man and supports complete freedom of opinion.”
I looked at the two Mineiros, and we all laughed. The toad realized he had contradicted himself, and instead of becoming defensive, he put on a friendly demeanor and laughed along. As his laughter subsided, he took out another newspaper page from his pocket. Dated July 26, the Rio news read: “Then, the TFP tried to invade the grounds of the Ipiranga Seminary to distribute a pamphlet against Cardinal Suenens to the bishops gathered there. This is the work of Carbonari, not medieval defenders of Tradition, Family, and Property!”
My toad grinned from ear to ear, expecting my defeat. Surprised by TFP’s “feat,” the Mineiros looked at me.
“Know, dear friend,” I said, “that this is simply a fabrication. The TFP has nothing to do with this study on Cardinal Suenens’ attitude. In fact, I don’t believe this pamphlet was forcefully distributed among the bishops. In any case, I contacted Cardinal Rossi and the newspaper to deny TFP involvement.”
“Ah,” said the toad, now calmer, “then everything is in order.”
“It’s not in order, I protested. Do you think it’s normal for the TFP to endure written and spoken slander constantly? Where do they come from, this toadish underground?
I thought the toad was about to explode. Instead, he softened and changed the subject: “And what a defeat the TFP has suffered with Father Comblin’s case,” he said. “After the entire campaign against him, there he is, free as a bird and giving lectures.”
And the toad showed me a leaflet advertising a Second Course in Pastoral Medicine at the National Pastoral Institute. It announced a lecture by Fr. Joseph Comblin on “Theology, Technique, and Faith.”
The toad said, “As you can see, Father Comblin is not a subversive. Otherwise, he would never have been invited to give this lecture. No one took TFP’s denunciation seriously.”
“Excuse me,” I said, “no one took Fr. Comblin seriously. No one can deny that the ‘Comblin Document’ is subversive. He was not taken seriously if his document’s content was not taken seriously.”
As the toad received the bill from the waiter, he was so engrossed in it that he lost interest in defending Fr. Comblin. After dividing the bill with his guests, the toad got up. We all followed his example. It was the most enjoyable part of the lunch.
* * *
As we left, I heard a man from Minas Gerais quietly tell the others, “It’s a big deal that Fr. Comblin is giving this lecture here in São Paulo.” The three of them were clearly concerned.
