A Igreja Católica e a Defesa dos Direitos Humanos Durante o Período do Estado de Exceção no Regime Militar

Abstract

This thesis is inserted in the Line of Research Social Movements and has the general objective of analyzing the intersection points between the Human Rights and the religious space during the military dictatorship in Brazil. The research problem consists in identifying the participation of the Catholic Church in the defense of the politically persecuted during this period. As specific objectives, it is discussed the State of Exception established by the Military Rule and it is analyzed the Church’s positioning, especially in Goiás, in protecting students who had stood out against the regime for their civil rights. The guiding axes are the concepts of authoritarian State, Human Rights, Catholic Church. The research has adopted the years between 1968 and 1979 as its time-cut in which there are registers of the use of torture against the regime opposition. The method used is the historical-dialectical materialism. The data acquisition has gone over not only Dom Fernando’s archives in Instituto de Pesquisa do Brasil Central (IPEHBC), but also the bibliographic resources about the theme. To achieve these goals, the thesis has been developed throughout four chapters, besides introduction and final considerations. The first chapter covers the Human Rights, Catholicism, the State formation under a jus naturale philosophical conception as well as the Church’s opposition to the regime and the social issue. In the second chapter, it has been pointed out the Second Vatican Council, the Liberation Theology and Episcopal Conference in Medellin. The third chapter addresses the actions of catholic bishops in defense of the Human Rights during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship and also Dom Fernando’s actions and his pastoral demeanor helping students in Goiás. The fourth chapter shows the research results. The study has been taken through the discourse analysis of Dom Fernando’s sermons and writings to defend the students in Goiás in addition to the political prisoners in the course of the military dictatorship and its State of Exception. In face of the analysis of the highlighted documents, it can be inferred that Dom Fernando has taken a major role defending the Human Rights during the Military Rule and also protecting the students in Goiás, merging fundamental religious and legal concepts.