Hélder Câmara

Hélder Pessoa Câmara (Portuguese pronunciation: ˈɛwdeɾ peˈsoɐ ˈkɐ̃mɐɾɐ; Fortress, February 7, 1909 - Recife, August 27, 1999) was a Catholic priest, Brazilian theologian and philosopher, archbishop emeritus of Olinda and Recife, defender of human rights and figure of liberation theology.

He was one of the founders of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) and defender of human rights during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985). For his actions he received numerous national and international awards, being the only Brazilian candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize four times.

He is remembered for his aphorism:

When I feed the poor, they call me holy. When I ask why they're poor, they call me a communist.

Biography

Studies and priesthood

He entered the Diocesan Seminary of Fortaleza in 1923, the Prainha Seminary, then under the direction of the Lazarist fathers. At that institution he finished high school and then graduated in Philosophy and Theology. He was ordained a priest on August 15, 1931, in Fortaleza, at the age of 22, with special authorization from the Holy See, as he was not yet of age. minimum required.^{[citation required]} That same year, she founded the Cearense Labor Legion and, in 1933, the Catholic Women's Workers Union, which brought together laundresses, cleaners and domestic workers.^{[citation required]} She participated in the development of government policies in the state of Ceará, giving an important boost to social studies in the area of public education. He was appointed director of the Department of Education of Ceará. ^{[ citation needed ]}

To further his studies, he was transferred in 1936 to Rio de Janeiro, which was the capital of the republic, where he dedicated himself to apostolic activities. He was Technical Director of Religion Teaching. There he had as Spiritual Director Leonel Franca, creator of the first Catholic university in Brazil - the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. In the postwar period, he founded the National Catholic Immigration Commission to support refugee immigration.

Auxiliary bishop of Rio

He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, on March 3, 1952. He was ordained bishop at the age of 43, on April 20, 1952, by Dom Jaime de Barros Câmara, Dom Rosalvo Costa Rego and sun Jorge Marcos de Oliveira.^{[citation required]}

He was a great promoter of the collegiality of bishops and the renewal of the Catholic Church, strengthening the dimension of social commitment. In 1950, he came into contact with Monsignor Giovanni Batista Montini, then Undersecretary of State of the Holy See and future Pope Paul VI, who supported and obtained approval, in 1952, to create the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, based in Rio de Janeiro. Hélder Câmara was the general secretary of that Conference, until 1964. His ability to articulate made the XXXVI International Eucharistic Congress a reality, in 1955, in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1956, he founded the São Sebastião Crusade, with the aim of providing decent housing to the favelados and the homeless. From this initiative, several housing complexes emerged. In 1959, he founded Banco da Providência, whose actions focused on caring for people living in conditions of misery.

Celam and Vatican Council II

Hélder Câmara, from the first conference in Rio in 1955 until 1992, was the delegate of the Brazilian episcopate to the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). As such he was present at the Second General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate held in Colombia in 1968, the third in Puebla (1979) and the fourth in Santo Domingo (1992).He was president and vice president of CELAM.

He actively participated in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, being a council father in the four sessions of the council. With the end of the Council approaching, Hélder Câmara was one of the proponents and signatories of the Pact of the Catacombs, a document signed by nearly 40 council fathers on November 16, 1965, after celebrating the Eucharist together in the Catacombs of Domitilla in Rome. Through that pact they committed to walking with the poor, assuming a simple lifestyle and renouncing all symbols of power.

On August 15, 1967, he was one of the editors and signatories of the Manifesto of the 18 Bishops, which supported the call of Paul VI in the encyclical Populorum Progressio, takes a stand against the "oppressors of the world of the poor", calls to replace capitalism and promote true socialism, without totalitarian collectivism or religious persecution. Both the pact and the manifesto had a strong influence on the emergence of Liberation Theology.

Archbishop of Olinda and Recife

On March 12, 1964, he was appointed archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Pernambuco, a position he held until April 2, 1985. He instituted the collegiate government of the archdiocese, organized into pastoral sectors. He created the Encuentro de Hermanisos Movement, the Banco da Providência and the Justice and Peace Commission of the archdiocese. On the other hand, he supported, promoted and strengthened the Base Ecclesial Communities.

He maintained clear resistance to the military dictatorship. He became a leader of the human rights movement. He did not hesitate to go to the media to denounce injustices. He preached in Brazil and internationally a Christian faith committed to the demands of the impoverished. He was persecuted by the military for his social and political actions, being identified as a communist. He was called the "red archbishop" (arcebispo vermelho). In 1968 his residence was machine-gunned and a year later one of his closest collaborators was murdered. After the so-called "Institutional Act Number Five"; He was denied access to the media and any reference to him was even prohibited. Being isolated from Brazilian public opinion, it was abroad that he widely disseminated his ideas and denunciations of human rights violations in Brazil. He was a promoter of the active non-violence movement.

In 1984, upon reaching the age of 75, he submitted his resignation due to age. After his retirement, he continued to live until his death in Recife, in the rooms of the Church of the Fronteiras, where he had resided since 1968. His body rests in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior of the World in Olinda.

Recognitions

During his lifetime he was named an honorary doctor by more than a dozen universities, and was nominated on several occasions for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1999 the Catholic Church recognized him as a servant of God, and the Congregation for the Causa de los Santos issued its favorable opinion for the beginning of the beatification process. In 2015 he opened the beatification process for himself in the diocese of Olinda and Recife, where he had previously been archbishop.