The "Chute na santa" ( pt, Chute na santa - "kicking on the saint") incident was a religious controversy that erupted in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in late 1995, sparked by a live broadcast of a minister of Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), the largest

pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

church in Brazil, kicking the statue of

Our Lady of Aparecida Our Lady Aparecida - Our Lady Revealed - ( pt, Nossa Senhora Aparecida or pt, Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida, links=no ) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the traditional form associated with the Immaculate Conception associated w ...

, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

saint.

The incident

The incident took place on October 12, 1995, the national

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history, ...

honouring Our Lady of Aparecida, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Brazil. That dawn, on ''O Despertar da Fé'' ( en, The Awakening of Faith), a national live television program by UCKG broadcast on Rede Record (owned by the same church),

televangelist Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...

bishop Sérgio Von Helder was expressing his thoughts about his church's biblical teachings on "imagery" and "

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...

" on the saint's day, when an actual

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

of the saint was shown. Then, as he walked around the image, talking about its inability "to see" and "to hear", he started to kick the image, proclaiming its "inability to react, because it's made of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

". On the following day,

Rede Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

's '' Jornal Nacional'' denounced the incident, causing a nationwide commotion. The event was perceived by Catholics as a major act of

religious intolerance Religious intolerance is Toleration, intolerance of another's religious beliefs or practices or lack thereof. Mere statements which are contrary to one's beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, occurs when a group ...

, sparking a public outcry. Several temples of the UCKG were the target of protests, and Von Helder had to be transferred to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

until the end of the controversy.

Network rivalry

Some see the incident as another clash between Rede Record and Rede Globo. A few months prior to the incident, Globo had broadcast a mini-series by

Dias Gomes Alfredo de Freitas Dias Gomes () (19 October 1922 – 18 May 1999) was a Brazilian playwright. He was born on October 19, 1922 in Salvador, Bahia. He started writing plays at age 15 and later wrote soap operas. He wrote the first ever colo ...

titled ''Decadência'' ( en, Decadence), which depicted the fictional tale of Mariel Batista (

Edson Celulari Edson Francisco Celulari (born 20 March 1958) is a Brazilian actor. Biography Celulari was a member of Porão 7, an amateur theater company from São Carlos. When he was 16 years old, he moved to São Paulo to study at the University of São ...

), a corrupt

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

pastor. According to a Rede Record documentary about the imprisonment of Edir Macedo (UCKG founder and Record owner), some lines of the character were based on public speeches by him.

Reaction

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

urged Catholics not to "answer evil with evil". Dom

Eugênio de Araújo Sales Eugênio, sometimes Eugénio, is a Portuguese masculine given name equivalent to Spanish Eugenio Eugenio is an Italian and Spanish masculine given name deriving from the Greek ' Eugene'. The name is Eugénio in Portuguese and Eugênio in Brazilian ...

, then

Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

, said that "unless we control our emotions, there is the risk of a holy war.

President of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, when questioned about the incident, said that "Brazil is a democratic country known by its tolerance" and that "any demonstration of intolerance hurts its unison spirit as well as its Christian spirit".

Cultural references

The "kicking of the saint" episode is referenced in the 1997 song ''Guerra Santa'' ( pt, Holy war), written and performed by

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...

. In this song, featured in the album ''Quanta'', Gil criticizes prosperity theology, one of the tenets of UCKG and other popular

Neopentecostal The Neo-charismatic (also third-wave charismatic or hypercharismatic) movement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the post-biblical ...

churches in Brazil."Guerra Santa" lyrics
.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chute na santa, Kicking Of The Saint 1995 in Brazil 1995 in Brazilian television Anti-Catholicism Protestantism-related controversies Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

The incident

Network rivalry

Reaction

Cultural references

See also

References