B"H

Jewish Tours

Buenos Aires, Argentina

BRAZIL

Interfaith Relations

Brazil is a country with a Catholic majority and a more recent high percentage of Protestants, mainly Evangelists. The growth of Protestantism helped produce a kind of philosemitism and greater support for Israel. The inter-religious dialogue, especially with the Catholic Church, is solid and permanent. Following the orientations of the Vatican II Council, the National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil published a Guide for Inter-Religious Dialogue. The archbishop of São Paulo, Cardinal Dom Cláudio Humes, repeatedly positioned himself in favor of inter-religious dialogue as an important element in a country with a Catholic and Protestant majority. The liberal rabbi Henry I. Sobel, from CIP, São Paulo, led this movement in the country and played a leading role in ecumenical and political events, where the presence of a Jewish representative is important. He was the best-known spokesman of Brazilian Judaism. The Conselho de Fraternidade Cristão-Judaica, founded in 1962, maintained an active inter-religious dialogue. From the 1990s many Protestant groups and churches appeared as "Christian-Hebrews," calling themselves "Jews who follow Jesus."

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