Uma discussão sobre igreja e estado à luz das questões religiosas presentes no Conselho de Estado (1842-1870)

Abstract

This paper proposes to analyze the implications of the religious questions and the possible regalism existing in the relations between the Catholic Church and the State in Brazil during the Second Reign, based on the debates of the Council of State. The Council acted alongside emperor d. Pedro II as one of the most solid institutions of the Empire. Its role as arbiter and organ of interpretation of the law made it receive queries of various sorts that did not have corroboration in the current legislation. Among them were queries which involved ecclesiastical issues. The period analyzed, 1842 - 1870, was chosen so as to accompany these debates throughout the Second Reign, contemplating the beginning the action of the State Council, associated with the project of centralization known as Conservative Regress that came to the power then, until the beginning of a new political conjuncture occurred from the appearance of the Republican Manifesto of 1870, the end of the Paraguayan war and the beginning of what became known as Religious Issue, which resulted in a conflict between the Church and the State. This study aims to analyze the treatment given to a series of issues that refer to the traditional and daily relations between the State and the Catholic Church in the country by means of a government perspective, prioritizing secular sources. Therefore, what is proposed is an analysis of these religious issues from the point of view of the Imperial State through the debates that they generated in the Council during the Second Reign and their implications in the process of construction of the Imperial State.