What to Know About the Viral Claim About Brazil’s Patron Saint Jolting a Tight Presidential Race
Justices are reviewing orders to remove posts after the claim spread online and fueled religious tensions in a race where Lula leads 48% to 29% among Catholics.
- On September 25, Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça ordered the removal of social media posts claiming Senator Flávio Bolsonaro would strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her patron saint status, deeming them "notoriously untrue."
- The controversy originated after a video by Bolsonaro was interpreted as signaling he would remove the patron saint, prompting social media users to resurface an abandoned 2007 bill by a Bolsonaro-aligned lawmaker proposing the same demotion.
- Justice Flávio Dino overturned the takedown on Sunday, September 27, arguing he did not see "a sufficient degree of certainty of illegality" to justify restricting freedom of expression.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva invoked the rumors at a campaign rally, declaring "no one is going to disrespect Our Lady of Aparecida," while Bolsonaro denied the accusations as the "biggest fake news."
- With the first-round election scheduled for October 4, the controversy affects a deeply divided electorate where around 56.7% of the population is Catholic and 26.9% is Evangelical.
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What to know about the viral claim about Brazil’s patron saint jolting a tight presidential race
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, has become a surprise election issue just days ahead of the Oct. 4 vote. A comment on Jesus by presidential candidate Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro went viral last week and triggered fears among many Catholics that he might intend to remove the patron saint,...
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The patron saint of Brazil, Our Lady of Aparecida, has become a surprising electoral issue a few days after the October 4 vote.
Leftists Try to Weaponize Virgin Mary Against Conservative Flavio Bolsonaro
Brazil's Patroness, Nossa Senhora do Aparecida (Our Lady of Aparecida), has become a talking point in the nation's 2026 presidential campaign in recent days after a fake news campaign claimed that conservative Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, an Evangelical Christian, planned to formally eliminate the Catholic patron saint title.
The Brazilian president and candidate for reelection, Luis Ignacia Lula da Silva, fed this Tuesday in the final stretch of the campaign a false news about an alleged anti-Catholicism of his rival Flávio Bolsonaro. Five days after the first round of the elections, Lula pledged during an act in the city of Fortaleza to keep the Virgin of Aparecida as patron saint of Brazil, in front of rumors that Bolsonaro wants to remove that title, something he…
A falsehood about Brazil's patron saint pits Supreme Court justices against each other mid-campaign
A false report that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro backed stripping Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Brazil's patron saint has produced contradictory rulings from three Supreme Federal Court justices, a clash with the Catholic bishops' conference and a dispute dominating the final week of campaigning before Sunday's vote.
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