Stepping out

Military rule? No, just the local elections...

It seemed like as good a date as any other. The Bishop of Rio de Janeiro said he would come to Cidade de Deus on Sunday, October 5 to license me as Priest Missioner. But what he forgot was that it was the day of the local elections. In Brazil, voting is compulsory, many people have to travel across town to vote where they are reigistered and the city virtually grinds to a halt. In the City of God the stand-off between drugs traffickers and the police just gets worse.

I walked to church through chaos and confusion on the streets past hundreds of soldiers carrying guns who had been drafted in 'to guarantee the democratic process'. Cidade de Deus felt like a tinder box that could explode at any moment. The most I had ever feared on polling day in the UK was being buttonholed by tellers asking me for my name and address. Now I wondered just how much it might take a soldier to pull his trigger, no questions asked. In the end, two people got shot and finished up in hospital. The result of the election was too close to call. In three weeks voters will go back to the polls and do it all over again.

No wonder just thirty brave souls made their way to church to stand with me as I made my promises. We sang 'Make me a channel of your peace'. I hope someone was listening.

Starting out

Cidade de Deus today

In the beginning...the1960s

Cidade de Deus is one of the most disadvantaged communities in Rio de Janeiro. It was built in the 1960s to provide a new start for people living in 23 of the city's slums. Government policy sought to remove the poor from Today, about 100,000 people live here: the great majority without access to basic services and rights. Prejudice against the neighbourhood and its inhabitants is great making it even harder for people to secure jobs. The young and women suffer most.