The sad news of the death of Archbishop Emeritus Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns was released early this Wednesday afternoon (14) and caused a national commotion. Since November 28th, the cardinal was hospitalized in São Paulo with bronchopneumonia, but he did not survive and suffered multiple organ failure at the age of 95. Dom Paulo is a Doctor Honoris Causa from Unicamp, the most important title granted by the University to leading figures in society. The honor was awarded in October 2000. Rector José Tadeu Jorge declared official mourning.
The general coordinator of the University, Alvaro Penteado Crósta, highlights the importance of recognizing the role and overall work of resistance to the cardinal's dictatorship throughout his career. “Unicamp has always welcomed political refugees, including those from other countries such as Chile and Argentina. It is a tradition at the University and, therefore, the figure of Dom Paulo will always be celebrated in the academic world”, declares the coordinator.
Crósta remembers Dom Paulo Evaristo with admiration, even though he never met him personally. In the 1970s, when he attended school at the University of São Paulo (USP), the cardinal's fight was widely mentioned in the university community. “I was a student at USP and had a deep admiration for the archbishop's defense activities towards political prisoners. Later, I also followed his prominent role in repairing this episode in history,” he declares.
“Interesting figure and a mentor for the family.” The phrase comes from professor at the Institute of Biology Clarice Weiss Arns, niece of the archbishop emeritus. Her father was Dom Paulo's first cousin and the family ties were strong. His grandfather Jacob Arns was the founder and teacher of the cardinal's school. She says that he was a very respected and loved person in the family for his involvement in defending human rights and the oppressed. In fact, the teacher highlights that many family members shared the same religious ideals, including active participation in movements. “I remember the episode in which an ecumenical mass was held for the death of journalist Vladimir Herzog. The mass was celebrated by Dom Paulo and Rabbi Henry Sobel, as Vladimir was Jewish. I and other family members participated in this political act in honor of the journalist”, she reports.
Clarisse Arns visited her uncle quite frequently and fondly remembers the family gatherings in which the archbishop participated. “During this last hospitalization, I was visiting my uncle in the hospital, but unfortunately he didn’t survive”, she laments.
Brazil, Never Again – To Professor Prof. Dr. Christiano Key Tambascia, deputy director of the Edgard Leuenroth Archive (AEL), is well known for the role of Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns in the fight against the dictatorship in Brazil, especially for his firm stance against torture practiced during this period. “Dom Paulo had an important role in defending human rights, especially with his work with the base ecclesiastical communities in São Paulo”, he declares.
According to Tambascia, it is important to highlight that it was through his efforts, together with the now deceased pastor Jaime Wright, that an archive on the processes of political prisoners conducted during the military regime could be produced to maintain a memory of repression in the country: they were preserved , during the period of redemocratization in the 1980s, more than seven hundred cases came from the Superior Military Court, totaling around 900 thousand paper copies, in addition to photographs and microfilms.
The project coordinated by Dom Paulo, called "Brazil: Never Again", developed by the World Council of Churches and the Archdiocese of São Paulo, allowed the conservation of this collection, as well as the publication of the book "Brazil: Never Again" in 1985. At the end of the project, the copies and research indexes produced were donated to AEL, constituting one of the largest and most accessed funds in the Archive.
Excerpts from the article published in Jornal da Unicamp at the time of the ceremony awarding the title of Doctor Honoris Causa, in October 2000.
D. Paulo delivers works to Unicamp
The granting of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns consolidated an old relationship between the religious and Unicamp. The documents used to produce the book "Brasil, Nunca Mais", which reveals the horrors of the dictatorial period, were donated in 1985 by the archbishop emeritus of São Paulo to the University. Currently, they form the collection of the Edgard Leuenroth Archive.
On October 20th, Dom Paulo presented the institution with two new works of unquestionable historical value. The first is a report produced by Presbyterian pastor Jaime Wright. The document tells how evidence of the use of torture by the military regime was obtained. According to Dom Paulo, the work was thorough. During the night, a group led by Wright himself, English journalist Jeane Rocha and lawyer Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh copied the cases opened by the government against political prisoners. During the day, the papers were taken to a safe location. To prevent the military from discovering the hiding place, the documentation was changed location at least five times.
"One day, they invaded the Archdiocesan Archive, which is located in Ipiranga. They turned everything over, but did not destroy the papers", recalled the cardinal. Later, Dom Paulo decided to look for a place where the collection could be stored safely and, at the same time, be available to society for consultation. "We were looking for a courageous friend who would protect the documents. The bravest person we found was at Unicamp. On the same day, we transferred the entire collection here", said the archbishop emeritus.
His second gift to the University is the book "Desaparecidos em la Argentina". Produced by the same team, it lists approximately 8 missing politicians from that country. According to Dom Paulo, the book was only delivered to the Pope, in 1983. "We waited for Argentina's return to the democratic regime to make the work public", he explained. According to the survey, 23% of those missing were students. The rest were between 19 and 30 years old. The book was later published in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Over the past 17 years, none of the information contained in the work has been challenged.
A superlative figure
Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns is a superlative figure. Born in a village in Criciúma (SC) in 1921, he joined the Franciscan order in 39. He was working as a vicar in the suburbs of Petrópolis (RJ), when he was appointed, in 66, auxiliary bishop to Dom Agnelo Rossi, a cardinal born in Campinas. Four years later, he was named Archbishop of São Paulo.
As soon as he assumed the archdiocese, Dom Paulo increased the participation of lay people in the activities carried out by the Church and fearlessly defended human rights, which were constantly violated during the period of the military government.
In 75, the cardinal defined, with the participation of auxiliary bishops, the priorities of the episcopal regions. Thus, it was established that each sector should assume and articulate the four priorities chosen by the people: base ecclesial communities, human and marginalized rights, world of work and pastoral care in the periphery.
Dom Paulo graduated in Patristics and Classical Languages from the Sorbonne University. He is the author of 48 books and has received approximately 100 national and international titles, most in recognition of his fight in defense of human rights. (Text: Manuel Alves Filho)
