It’s there in the Bible: “God asks all of us to be peacemakers.” The minister (Advocate General of the Union) cites, in a podcast produced by the PT’s Nucleus of Evangelicals, the verse from the Gospel of Matthew that recognizes as “blessed” those who reconcile conflicting parties.
He is the one who may now have to seek peace around his name, after being chosen as the president’s (PT) favorite at the (Supreme Federal Court).
If nominated and approved by the Senate, Messias will be the third among the 172 ministers who have passed through the court in 134 years. Before the Presbyterian pastor arrived there, appointed in the third year of the government (), he came in 1957.
Villas Boas had something in common with Messias: his role as a deacon in a Baptist church, a kind of assistant to the pastor. The religious factor, however, was collateral in the public attention given to the first, at a time when Catholicism monopolized national religiosity.
Not now. Declaring oneself a believer stopped being a biographical detail and gained political tension. Messias, who on the Esplanada has Marina Silva (Environment) as a peer of faith, is appointed as the government’s interlocutor with evangelical churches.
He was even booed when he mentioned Lula in 2023, which was never repeated — the president at the event, but without mentioning him. This year, he even received a “we love you too” from the apostle Estevam Hernandes, the creator of the March.
His moderate profile, far from the inflammatory rhetoric that electrifies the culture wars, may not eliminate, but dampens the unease among evangelical leaders about his possible nomination.
There are those who follow the line “of the evils, the lesser”. Lula will not give up choosing someone he trusts, so Messiah, if it’s any consolation, is at least a true believer who is in the habit of sending biblical passages to a list of contacts on WhatsApp.
The former president of the evangelical bench Eli Borges (PL-TO) is from this group. “He’s better than a Flávio Dino profile or [Alexandre de] Moraes.”
Today the attorney general is seen as loyal to Lula, true. But Borges says he is aiming for the long term. “I am convinced that, with the end of Lulism, the values of [Messias] Christian will be more evident.”
There is an expectation, behind the scenes evangelicals, that the minister, if he assumes the post, will mirror the Lula’s former personal lawyer has leaned towards conservatism on sensitive issues for the segment — such as his votes against the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and against equating the crime of homotransphobia with that of racial insult. The right saw a “pleasant surprise” in him.
Cezinha de Madureira (PSD-SP), another former leader of the evangelical bench, is openly sympathetic to the transfer of the toga to the Lulist minister. “If the president still has sense in his head, he will nominate the Messiah to the Supreme Court.”
Marcelo Crivella (Republicanos-RJ), nephew of Bishop Edir Macedo who was once minister of Dilma Rousseff (PT) and later voted for her impeachment, is also generous with Messias. He says he sees in him “an exemplary career servant with the convictions of an evangelical concerned with doing justice and showing the government the important role of churches.”
Otoni de Paula (MDB-RJ) joins the group of enthusiasts. Like so many other pairs of faith and Congress, he wore the Bolsonarist shirt in the past, and now the PT.
His excitement involves the bet that “Messiah is a conservative guy.” “It doesn’t mean that, because he’s left-wing, he’s automatically progressive, right? He’s an evangelical by training.”
Another evangelical wing is suspicious of the ideological credentials of the leader of the . Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF) and deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante, leader of the PL and close to pastor Silas Malafaia, label him a leftist.
It is still unclear how Messiah navigates the moral field.
In 2024, he participated in a podcast led by pastor Oliver Goiano, a Baptist like himself, about “what PT evangelicals think”. He said there that he would be guided by the “teachings of Christ”, separating the “righteousness of God” from the “righteousness of men”.
He argued that the PT, by advocating for “access to health, education, decent housing”, comes close to biblical principles. “Now, the true Christian is the first to defend the family, and I was born into a Christian home, where the family is the basis of everything.”
Goiano tells Sheet that, from what he observes of “doctor Jorge’s” positions, there is concern about “the reduction of social inequalities”, hence a greater alignment with the left on the economic agenda. He would also be a “defender of the secular state”.
What the pastor does not detect is a left-handed predisposition in customs. “I don’t see in his speeches a commitment to, let’s say, progressive values. He has appeared to be a more conservative evangelical in the moral field, but, economically, someone who understands that Brazil needs to include the poorest.”
Not everyone is convinced that, once on the STF, Messias would lean towards Christian conservatism. There are those who remember that, under his leadership, he tried to restrict legal abortion after 22 weeks of gestation.
According to the agency, the medical entity had acted to force a woman who became pregnant after rape to have the baby. At the same time, Sóstenes had caused uproar with a bill that stipulated penalties equivalent to murder for anyone who had an abortion after the 22nd week. It didn’t prosper.
