Clerical left

the view of the dictatorship's information bodies on dom José Maria Pires

Abstract

This article analyzes the Brazilian Catholic clergy in times of dictatorship from the perspective of information agencies, in particular, based on the actions developed under the episcopate of dom José Maria Pires. To this end, for methodological reasons, we highlight some of the activities of the archbishop of Paraíba according to the records of the repressive bureaucracy, which gave him the nickname of subversive, classifying the religious as one of the most active on the Brazilian clerical left. The polarized context of the Cold War and the anti-communist narrative prevalent in that period led spy agencies to call themselves the clerical left and persecute part of the Catholic clergy who worked in defense of human rights and against the injustices committed by the regime. Therefore, the work in question allows us to understand part of the dynamics of the repressive bodies of the Brazilian military dictatorship in their search to build evidence that would justify espionage and persecution against their opponents.