Consensos e dissensos: o episcopado brasileiro em tempos de crise democrática no Brasil (2013-2018)

Abstract

Like the traditional game of chess, many rules, pieces and moves are used in the dispute between the two sides of the board. The most strategic one wins. It seems that Brazil, more than ever, has been transformed into a game of disputes, where the prize is unstable and precarious political, cultural and economic hegemony. Thus, focusing on the relationship between ideology and religious institutions, this work seeks to investigate the ideological action of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil between the years 2013 and 2018. The objective is to understand the ideological discursive behavior of Catholic bishops, in different areas and themes, during their annual general assemblies, when, together, but with divergent perspectives, they need to decide the strategies for the Church's action in Brazil in unison. Based on the Discourse Theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, we analyzed interventions in the minutes of the assemblies using the Ideological methodology of Religious Leadership. This made it possible to map the ideological meanings produced by the bishops in the assemblies based on their respective understandings of the Church's mission. We can say that the Catholic Church in Brazil, with a pastoral profile, was internally in dispute between bishop-prophets and bishop-priests regarding the approach to issues. However, it presented an ideological behavior of the liberal left in socioeconomic issues and the conservative right in terms of customs, reflecting the influence that the papacies exert on the pastoral action of the CNBB.