The "Chute na santa" () incident was a religious controversy that erupted in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in late 1995, sparked by a live broadcast of a minister of

Universal Church of the Kingdom of God The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG; ; , IURD) is an international Evangelical Neo-charismatic movement, Neo-charismatic Christian denomination with its headquarters at the Temple of Solomon (UCKG), Temple of Solomon in São Paulo, B ...

(UCKG), the largest

pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

church in Brazil, kicking the statue of

Our Lady of Aparecida Our Lady Aparecida ("Our Lady, the Appeared"), ( or ''Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida'') is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Immaculate Conception. Her image, a dark clay statue, is widely venerated by Brazilian Cat ...

, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

saint.

The incident

The incident took place on October 12, 1995, the national

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, federal holiday, statutory holiday, bank holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Types Civic holiday A ''civic holiday'', also k ...

honouring Our Lady of Aparecida, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Brazil. That dawn, on ''O Despertar da Fé'' (), a national live television program by UCKG broadcast on

Rede Record Record (stylized in uppercase; ), formerly known as Rede Record and RecordTV, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In ...

(owned by the same church),

televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...

bishop Sérgio Von Helder was expressing his thoughts about his church's biblical teachings on "imagery" and "

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic ...

" on the saint's day, when an actual

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of the saint was shown. Then, as he walked around the image, talking about its inability "to see" and "to hear", he started to kick the image, proclaiming its "inability to react, because it's made of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

". On the following day,

Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...

's ''

Jornal Nacional ; ) is the flagship television newscast of TV Globo. First airing on September 1, 1969, according to IBOPE ( Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics), in the week of September 28October 4, 2015, it was the second most watched progra ...

'' denounced the incident, causing a nationwide commotion. The event was perceived by Catholics as a major act of

religious intolerance Religious intolerance or religious bigotry is intolerance of another's religious beliefs, practices, faith or lack thereof. Statements which are contrary to one's religious beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, ...

, sparking a public outcry. Several temples of the UCKG were the target of protests, and Von Helder had to be transferred to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

until the end of the controversy.

Network rivalry

Some see the incident as another clash between Rede Record and Rede Globo. A few months prior to the incident, Globo had broadcast a mini-series by

Dias Gomes Alfredo de Freitas Dias Gomes () (19 October 1922 – 18 May 1999) was a Brazilian playwright. He was born on October 19, 1922, in Salvador, Bahia. He started writing plays at age 15 and later wrote soap operas. He wrote the first ever col ...

titled ''

Decadência Decadência is a 1995 Brazilian miniseries produced and displayed by Rede Globo between September 5 and September 22, 1995, in a total of 12 chapters. Written by Dias Gomes, it was freely inspired by a novel of the author himself, it counted in g ...

'' (), which depicted the fictional tale of Mariel Batista (

Edson Celulari Edson Francisco Celulari (born 20 March 1958) is a Brazilian actor. Biography Celulari was a member of Porão 7, an amateur theater company from São Carlos. When he was 16 years old, he moved to São Paulo to study at the University of São ...

), a corrupt

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

pastor. According to a Rede Record documentary about the imprisonment of

Edir Macedo Edir Macedo (born February 18, 1945) is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG). He is the owner and chairman of the third-largest television network in ...

(UCKG founder and Record owner), some lines of the character were based on public speeches by him.

Reaction

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

urged Catholics not to "answer evil with evil". Dom

Eugênio de Araújo Sales Eugênio, sometimes Eugénio, is a Portuguese masculine given name equivalent to Spanish Eugenio. People *Eugênio Sales (1920–2012), Brazilian cardinal *Eugênio Izecksohn (1932–2013), Brazilian herpetologist * Eugénio Fernando Bila ( ...

, then Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, said that "unless we control our emotions, there is the risk of a

holy war A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent t ...

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...

, when questioned about the incident, said that "Brazil is a democratic country known by its tolerance" and that "any demonstration of intolerance hurts its unison spirit as well as its Christian spirit".

Cultural references

The "kicking of the saint" episode is referenced in the 1997 song ''Guerra Santa'' (), written and performed by

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

. In this song, featured in the album ''Quanta'', Gil criticizes

prosperity theology Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, seed-faith gospel, Faith movement, or Word-Faith movement) is a belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial bl ...

, one of the tenets of UCKG and other popular Neopentecostal churches in Brazil.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chute na santa, Kicking Of The Saint 1995 in Brazil 1995 in Brazilian television October 1995 in South America Anti-Catholicism Protestantism-related controversies Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

The incident

Network rivalry

Reaction

Cultural references

See also

References