O discurso anticomunista católico:

Uma análise do jornal cuiabano “A Cruz” entre os anos de 1930 e 1935

Abstract

This article aims to present a reading of the newspaper “A Cruz” (Organ of the Brazilian Catholic Social League of Matto-Grosso) in order to point out how communism was treated by intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities of this periodical, who produced political news -ideological and warned their readers about the communist demonstrations in the state of Mato Grosso and in the country between 1930 and 1935. For Catholicism, communism was seen as a dangerous enemy that threatened the existing social order and the survival of religion, for it destroyed the religious and moral principles of the Catholic Church. The fight against communism was preached in pastoral letters, encyclicals and also gained strength in newspapers, mainly Catholics. In Mato Grosso, the newspaper “A Cruz” produced a narrative of contempt and disqualification, emphasizing that communism was a real mess, expressing how much this political model was condemned by the Catholic ecclesiastical hierarchy. In this sense, the newspaper “A Cruz” was a strategic vehicle used by the Catholic Church in Cuiabá-MT, to delegitimize any ideas, principles, positions that were contrary to Catholicism, especially of a communist color. And so the periodicals became a space of wealth, used by the Catholic hierarchy, to spread the Catholic faith, its customs, it fought its enemies, informing and training its readers.