Eduardo Campos Lima

At the end of October, members of Brazil's Catholic black lay associations gathered in the northern port city of Salvador to discuss their centuries-long history and the challenges facing the new network they have formed.

After denouncing the record number of wildfires in the Amazon in August and the growing deforestation of the region, the Brazilian Catholic Church is pressuring the government to guarantee the safety of several Amazonian indigenous people.

The apparently intentional escalation of fires in the Amazon rainforest has contributed to a growing political split among religious groups in Brazil, as the country's Catholic bishops and Protestant denominations have spoken out against President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policies while his evangelical Christian allies have remained silent, or even debunked the criticism.

In the past few decades, Brazil has experienced an unexpected Jewish resurgence fueled by the descendants of Portuguese and Spanish Jews forced to convert to Christianity in colonial times.

Refugees fleeing Venezuela’s ongoing economic collapse are crossing the country’s borders to Colombia and Brazil, adding a new front in Latin America’s already critical migration situation, with thousands facing dangerous journeys to escape famine, poverty and political chaos.

While the Vatican's synod on clergy sexual abuse has grabbed headlines in much of the world, another meeting of bishops, slated for October 2019, is already making news in Brazil.