Priest, Superstar

Padre Marcelo is as far as you can be from a clergy generation that believed that Marx and Christ had much in common. He talks against drugs and about heaven and hell, he condemns homosexuality, abortion, and all kinds of contraceptives, and he is also against giving women a wider role in the Church.

Elma-Lia Nascimento

A charismatic, blue-eyed, handsome, 31-year-old Catholic priest from São Paulo has become the most talked about TV attraction in Brazil in recent weeks. Priest Marcelo Rossi's participation in the most popular television programs is a guarantee of high ratings while he preaches, dances and sings religious tunes like a pop star. His star has risen so fast that he recently became the cover subject of weekly newsmagazine Veja, the most important weekly publication in Brazil with a circulation of more than 1.2 million copies.

His masses, celebrated with song and dance in a former industrial warehouse in the Santo Amaro neighborhood in the Greater São Paulo, draws as many as 60,000 believers. In little more than a month his CD Músicas Para Louvar o Senhor (Songs to Praise the Lord) sold 1.7 million copies. Best-selling band Só Pra Contrariar has sold 3.6 million copies of its latest album Só Pra Contrariar. Some industry insiders believe the dancing priest has a good chance to surpass this number.

Evangelical pastors have complained that the priest mixed Catholic songs with evangelical ones. From the 13 cuts in the CD six are tunes sung by evangelicals. "I made a point not to limit myself to the Catholic world," he explained during a press conference sponsored by PolyGram, his recording company.

As for his continuous appearances on TV he has no apologies: "We have shown that it is possible to get the highest ratings on TV by preaching God's word and without lowering the level. But I am not a product, I'm a priest. If the TV stations are using me to get audience, I am doing the same and helping people in the process."

Very Human

Padre Marcelo was a late bloomer. Before entering the seminary he led a pretty normal life for a teen-ager, going out on dates and having sex with a few girls. As a child in Cruzeiro, a small town 125 miles from São Paulo, he thought about becoming a soccer player, a fireman or maybe a Formula One driver.

He was not that interested in religion either. In 1980 when the Pope visited São Paulo he was 13 years old and had already moved to São Paulo, but preferred to stay home doing crossword puzzles while his parents went to catch a glimpse of John Paul II. In 1989 he graduated in Physical Education.

Marcelo was 21 when two tragedies in the family brought him back to the church and inspired him to dedicate his life to the priesthood. He lost a cousin, who also was a close friend, in a car accident on the same day his aunt was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. The following year a TV series on the Pope, which he saw a dozen times, became the trigger for his religious vocation. In 1991 he entered the seminary.

He is as far as you can be from a clergy generation that believed that Marx and Christ had much more in common than in disagreement. The popular priest talks against drugs, and about heaven and hell as the more traditional priests do. He condemns homosexuality, abortion, and all kinds of contraceptives, and he is also against giving women a wider role in the Church.

His sermons are short and to the point. He likes to cite a saying: "In five minutes is God who is talking, in ten is the man, and in fifteen is the devil." Worried about the short attention span of the believers he has introduced the Byzantine rosary in his church, a prayer that takes about 10 minutes, one third of the time of the traditional rosary.

A track from Padre Marcelo's CD:

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