The 2008 Agreement Between the Holy See and Brazil on the Juridical Statute of the Catholic Church in Brazil in the Eyes of the Brazilian Superior Courts

Abstract

In 2008, Brazil and the Holy See entered into an Agreement on the Juridical Statute of the Catholic Church and its Ecclesiastical Institutions in Brazil (the “Agreement”). The Agreement was approved by the Brazilian Congress by Legislative Decree 698 on October 7, 2009 and entered into force in the international sphere on December 10, 2009. On February 11, 2010, by Presidential Decree 7.107, it entered into force in the domestic sphere. The purpose of this essay is assessing the consistency of the Agreement with the State laicity enshrined in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. The hypothesis is the validity of the Agreement due to the special status of the Holy See in International Law. The methodology of study consisted in describing the historical background of the relationship between State and Church in Brazil as a preamble for surveying cases which have dealt with the 2008 Agreement and the corresponding decisions at the Brazilian Superior Courts. As a result, we have found out that the Brazilian Judiciary sustained the compatibility of the Agreement with the laicity of the Brazilian State enshrined in its 1988 Constitution in two leading cases that addressed, respectively, the possibility of confirmation, by Brazilian Courts, of ecclesiastical declarations of nullity issued by marriage tribunals under the Code of Cannon Law, and the possibility of confessional classes in public schools. Both possibilities were eventually upheld by Brazilian Superior Courts in landmark rulings on the status of the Holy See in the Brazilian practice of international law.