By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry (Itamaraty) has granted diplomatic passports to evangelical bishop Edir Macedo, founder and leader of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and his wife, according to the Official Registry. The authorization for the issuance of the diplomatic passports was signed by Minister Ernesto Araújo at the end of last week.
“This Ministry understands that, because they are leaders of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which benefits, among others, Brazilian communities in dozens of countries, the applicants carry on a continuing activity of relevant interest to Brazil, which requires numerous trips abroad and justifies the issuance of diplomatic passports in their name,” said the note issued by the Itamaraty.
In addition to being the leader of the Universal Church, Macedo is also the owner of TV Record, one of Brazil’s largest TV conglomerates.
He first received a diplomatic passport in 2006, during the administration of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He was able to renew this passport in 2011, under the government of Dilma Rousseff.
In July 2016, while Michel Temer was in office, the Itamaraty suspended diplomatic passports for religious leaders, arguing that Brazil is a secular state.
Macedo is a public supporter of president Jair Bolsonaro, having declared his vote for the president even before the first round of elections.
Hours after the publication of the Registry, lawyer Ricardo Amin Abrahão Nacle filed a popular action suit in the Federal Court of São Paulo.
According to the lawyer, it is “unquestionable that the owners of one of the largest television networks in the country do not develop any mission or continued activity of special interest to Brazil for which they need additional protection represented by the special travel document,” said the suit.
The red-colored passport is given to people who represent the interest of the country when abroad. The diplomatic passport gives holders privileges including preferential treatment at immigration posts and visa waivers in some countries. Diplomatic passports are valid for three years.
A Brazilian decree establishes rules and guidelines for the granting of diplomatic passports and lists twelve categories of authorities that may hold them, among them the president, vice-president, former presidents, cabinet members, state governors, Congressional representatives, diplomats, and military on missions. None of the categories, however, apply to the bishop and his wife.