The, had a closer relationship with the petistas and during his mandates ahead of the national executive and farther from () and (), who also chaired Brazil during the last papacy.
With Lula, the Pope adopted political actions considered blunt, such as sending. Dilma has also received praise from the pontiff, who even called her “clean-handed woman.”
The relationship with Michel Temer was marked by refusing a visit to Brazil and a letter in which he asked for attention to the “poorest” who pay “the bitter price” for “easy and surface solutions for crises”, without explaining what these would be.
Already the relationship with Bolsonaro was marked by opposition on two major fronts: care for the environment and respect for social distancing during the Pandemic of Covid-19, points out the professor of UFSCar (Federal University of São Carlos) André Ricardo de Souza, who coordinates Nerep (Nucleus of Studies of Religion, Economics and Politics) of the institution.
The religious leader has been at the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, when Dilma had her first term.
Remember how was the relationship between the last presidents of Brazil and Pope Francis.
Lula (2023-2026)
Lula’s relationship with the Pope began with distrust by the petista, a condition overcome after the Pontiff sent a letter to the petista while he was in prison in Curitiba.
In February 2020, four months after leaving the prison, Lula visited Francis in. Upon returning to power in the third term, the president again found the Pope in June 2023, when he received from Francis a metal plate with the message “Peace is a fragile flower.”
In the same year, the Pope gave an interview to an Argentine TV in which he stated that Lula was convicted without evidence in 2018. The petista had been sentenced to Lava Jato for passive corruption and money laundering, but the convictions were later annulled by the Supreme Court (STF).
Lula also found the Pope in 2024 during the G7 summit (group of countries with the largest world economies) in Italy. The first lady Janja was also a few times with the Pope, the last in February. From a “dear friend, a walk” with the death of Francis.
Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022)
One of the focuses of tension between Francisco and Bolsonaro was the 2019 Amazon Synod, when bishops from various countries in the Amazon region spoke about evangelization, environment and protection to indigenous peoples.
At the time, Bolsonaro said there was “a lot of political influence” at the event, understood by him as a “threat to national sovereignty.” The Catholic Church countered criticism by saying that the bishops involved in the Synod were being “criminalized” and treated as “enemies of the homeland.”
Another point that opposed Francisco and Bolsonaro, points out Professor André Ricardo de Souza, was the pandemic of Covid-19. The pontiff defended quarantine, while Bolsonaro spoke publicly against social distance.
About the Pope said that the episode was part of a tendency to weaken democracy in the Americas. Despite the distance between the two, due to the death of his mother he in 2022.
Bolsonaro did not visit Francis during his term. He is the only one of the presidents during the Francisco papacy who has no photo with the pontiff. Former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, however, was with the Pope in 2019 during a meeting of first Latin American ladies with the highest authority of the Catholic Church.
Michel Temer (2016-2019)
In 2017, Pope Francis declined an invitation from then -President Michel Temer to visit Brazil. The religious leader handed a letter to the agent in which he spoke of “crisis” paid mainly for the “poorest”.
For André Ricardo de Souza, the refusal was a “significant political position of the pontiff”, which had publicly committed to returning to the country that year due to the 300th anniversary celebrations of the appearance of the image of Our Lady Aparecida.
At that time, the CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil) criticized the then president’s initiative to reform social security. Temer met the Pope in official events while still vice president.
Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016)
Dilma was in her first term when Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope. The petista was the first head of state to be received by him after his inaugural mass. Still in 2013, they met during Francisco’s visit to Brazil due to the World Youth Day, which took place in Rio de Janeiro.
At the time, Dilma was surprised by Francisco’s informal style, calling him Demagogo, according to former Minister Gilberto Carvalho to Sheet. After meeting him in person, but he changed his position.
“In Rio, the new Pope was quite cordial with then -President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party, but also encouraged young people to participate in massive street demonstrations that were boiling in the country,” analyzes researchers André Ricardo de Souza and Breno Minelli Batista in an article published on the effects of Francisco’s papacy in Brazil.
Dilma found the Pope other times during trips to the Vatican. In 2023, during an interview with an Argentine TV, the pontiff criticized the impeachment process in 2016, saying she was a “clean -handed woman.”
