Ultra-Conservative Catholics Vow to Fight Netflix Censorship

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s ultra-conservative Catholic association, Centro Dom Bosco de Fé e Cultura (Dom Bosco Center for Faith and Culture – CDB), suffered a significant defeat on Thursday, after the Supreme Court (STF) overturned the suspension of the movie “The First Temptation of Christ” from streaming service company, Netflix. The center stated on Friday that it will appeal the STF’s decision.

“Our goal is the salvation of souls and that all Brazil love and worship the true God. There can be no freedom of speech in the insults to Him, the Blessed Virgin and her chaste St. Joseph. We will not stop fighting. Long live Christ the King,” said the institution in its social media account on Thursday after the STF decision.

“Promoting the truth of the Catholic faith is worth it. Fighting the enemies of the faith, fighting the enemies of the Catholic faith, fighting the enemies of the Holy Church. Worth it. Even if we face defeat, victory eventually comes,” added 31-year-old Pedro Affonseca, lawyer and president of the CBD.

At the end of last year, the CDB filed a lawsuit in Rio de Janeiro’s courts requesting the removal of the movie produced by Porta dos Fundos from the streaming service. The association also asked Netflix to pay compensation for moral damages of at least R$0.02 per Brazilian who professes the Catholic religion, which, according to the association’s calculation, would total over R$2 million.

The lawsuit argued ‘that the level of disrespect, aggression, and contempt for the faith and the values of Catholics revealed in the film is unspeakable’, with Jesus Christ being portrayed as Lucifer’s boyfriend and Mary as an adulteress in a love triangle with Joseph and God.

“The film scorns, ridicules and demeans the beliefs and values most dear to Catholics and Christians around the world, on the pretext of freedom of expression and art that finds no limits and is empty of any real substance,” stated the claim.

This is not the first time the CDB has filed a lawsuit against the humor group. In 2017, the center filed a claim wanting to receive R$1 for each viewing of the videos “Catholic Heaven” (which mocked the Ten Commandments, and “He is Among Us”, both produced by Porta dos Fundos. According to CDB the videos were ‘an attack on worship and religious liberty’. The case is still open and if CDB wins it could receive over R$12 million.

Founded in September of 2016 as a WhatsApp group by conservative Catholic university students, the Dom Bosco Center has, in a little over two years, gained a great number of supporters, making the front page of some of Brazil’s largest dailies.

Today the center operates a publishing company and offers online and live courses on many subjects, from Gregorian chants and Catholicism, to Latin, law, marriage and ethics through its São Jeromino University. The University prides itself in not being validated by Brazil’s Ministry of Education as a higher education learning center. Among the professors are the Military Archbishop, Fernando Jose Monteiro Guimarães and Auxiliary Bishop of Rio de Janeiro and Opus Dei member, Bishop Antônio Augusto Dias Duarte.

Most of its funding comes from donations and online/live courses, with the Center operating out of a commercial building in the center of Rio de Janeiro.

According to the official website, ‘all activities of the Dom Bosco Center are based on the principle clearly stated by Saint Thomas in the distant Middle Ages – that faith and reason do not contradict one another but complement one another’.

The group is today considered one of the main centers for conservative Catholic studies in Brazil, bringing together students, teachers, influencers and politicians. With over 63,000 followers on Facebook and hundreds in its WhatsApp group, members include Federal Representative Christine Tonietto and Bolsonarist YouTuber, Bernardo Küster. Although they preach the end of the secular state, they do not preach a revolution, but rather a “re-Christianization” of the country.

According to CDB officials even the current 64.4 percent of the Brazilian population claiming to be Catholic are merely ‘indifferent Catholics’ or ‘IBGE (Census Bureau) Catholics’, who do not ‘live fully the Catholic religion’.

The more progressive Catholic groups have dubbed them ‘catolibans’ and ‘old-fashioned’, for which they respond, “It would be strange if they didn’t call us old-fashioned. For us the Middle Ages are a truly enlightened age, when faith played a central role. Enlightenment, on the other hand, is a tragic event in human history,” says Affonseca.

According to Affonseca, masses should be returned to be spoken in Latin and women should only enter churches wearing headscarves.

The fight against abortion is just one of the several conflicts the CDB and their supporters have gotten into in these past few years. They are also against performers, comedians, left-wing activists, ‘Marxist indoctrinating’ teachers, priests of liberation theology, gender ideology, and Brazilian educator Paulo Freire – all whom CDB believes threaten the pure Catholic faith.

“It is not simply a defense of the faith, it is simply a defense of those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Catholic faithful. It is a defense of God. Some argue: God needs no one to defend Him. This is evident, God is unattainable. But God must be worshiped, must be loved, cannot be offended, cannot be made fun of, cannot be turned into a homosexual. It’s ridiculous, it’s childish,” concludes Affonseca.