An attuned discourse: the catholic episcopate on 'politics' and the 'social'

Abstract

This article analyzes the relations of Brazil's Catholic bishops and their position, as a representative group, regarding "political" and "social" issues. The purpose of the study is twofold: it seeks to shed light on the logic of the mechanisms shaping the representations of the Brazilian high clergy as a homogeneous group responsible for elaborating univocal messages to a heterogeneous public; and to apprehend a vast set of strategies for crafting and presenting official discourses well-adapted to both Brazil's and the world's realities, as a way of legitimizing the Church as an authority on a vast array of subjects.

Keywords

• elite eclesiástica
• episcopado
• Igreja católica
• política