Liga Eleitoral Católica
The Liga Eleitoral Católica (LEC) (German Catholic Election League ) was a Catholic electoral alliance in Brazil that put up candidates for election to the Constituent Assembly in 1933.
Historical context
The increasing authoritarianism of President Getúlio Dornelles Vargas led to the constitutionalist revolt in the state of São Paulo. This failed, but it forced Vargas to convene a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for the country. The Catholic Church saw an opportunity here to achieve better conditions after it was very disadvantaged in the constitution of 1891.
Act
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira , Alceu Amoroso Lima and Heitor da Silva Costa , leading figures of the very strong Brazilian Catholicism of the 1920s and 1930s, then founded Sebastião Leme da , with great support from bishops, above all from the Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro , Sebastião Leme da Silveira Cintra , the League Eleitoral Católica . For the elections of May 3, 1933, the candidates ran in multi-party lists. Several of their candidates were elected. The first president of the election league was Dr. Estêvão Ribeiro de Sousa Resende (Souza Rezende in the spelling of the time). Other MPs were u. a. Alceu Amoroso Lima, Plinio Correa de Oliveira and Waldemar Cromwell do Rego Falcão , who later became Minister of Labor under Getúlio Vargas. The most important publication for the opinions of the LEC during the session was the Catholic weekly newspaper O Legionário , the official organ of the Archdiocese of São Paulo .
The constituent assembly met from November 15, 1933. The aim of the Catholic electoral league was to enforce a catalog of minimum requirements: indissolubility of marriage, religious instruction in schools and religious support for the armed forces and prisoners. These, as well as other demands, such as the mention of God in the constitutional preamble, state support for large families, etc. a., were incorporated into the new constitution, which came into force on July 16, 1934.
The Liga Eleitoral Católica existed formally until 1937. In the constitution of 1937, the demands made by the electoral league were generally retained. It reorganized itself for the elections on December 2, 1945 after President Vargas was deposed, but could not build on its old successes.
literature
- Filipe de Faria Dias Leite: Atuação da Liga Eleitoral Católica na formação da Assembléia Nacional Constituinte de 1933. ( Digitized , PDF; 48 KB; Brazilian Portuguese, contains text on the role of the electoral league).
- Margaret Todaro Williams: The Politicization of the Brazilian Catholic Church: The Catholic Electoral League. In: Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume. 16, No. 3, August 1974 ( JSTOR 174888 )