Lula asks Leo XIV to follow Francisco’s footsteps
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has congratulated the American cardinal Robert Prevost for his choice as head of the Catholic Church. Lula, who governs the country with the most Catholics in the world, has expressed his desire that Leo XIV “give continuity to the legacy of Pope Francis, whose main virtues were the tireless search for peace and social justice, the defense of the environment, the dialogue with all peoples and all religions, and respect for the diversity of human beings …”.
In his public greeting to the new Pontiff, the Brazilian, who is in Moscow to participate this Friday with the Russian Vladimir Putin on the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II, added: “We do not need wars, hate or intolerance. We need more solidarity and more humanism. We need love to the neighbor, which is the basis of the teachings of Christ”.
Brazil is the country with the most Catholics in the world, although it is a diminishing community before the strength of the evangelical churches. The Vatican figure the Brazilian baptized in 182 million, but the escape of faithful to other denominations, especially those that preach the doctrine of prosperity, is constant and the survey Datafolha More recent reduces the number of Catholics to 103 million. Anyway, that means one in ten faithful of the Church of Rome.
