Catholic Activism in Operation: Confronting Gender and Plurality in Brazilian Society

This paper we will analyze the new characteristics acquired by Catholic anti-abortion and anti-gender activism in Brazil in the last five years. To produce this article, we observed this activism in operation in public demonstrations and anti-abortion and anti-gender campaigns that we observed from 2018 until 2022, including during the pandemic period, in which we focused on analyzing online publications. As a result, we identified two characteristics of this new activism: the incorporation of symbolic and ritual elements of the Catholic Church in the public confrontation against the decriminalization of abortion and sexual and reproductive rights, and the confrontation of antagonistic groups, represented by civil society movements, especially those that defend the rights of gender and the reproduction of life. This Catholic activism mobilizes references from a Church model prior to the Second Vatican Council, confronting the ideals of freedom and religious plurality and, more broadly, of secularism. This is an activism that is ostensibly Catholic and radically anti-plurality.