Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, right, and his new justice minister, André Mendonça, attend his swearing-in ceremony at the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) SÃO PAULO (RNS) — Only a few months after taking office in January of 2019, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro mentioned it was about time to have a Christian justice on the Supreme Court. Now, the far-right South American leader is fulfilling his longtime promise of a “terribly evangelical” justice through the nomination of current Attorney General André Mendonça, a Presbyterian minister. Bolsonaro officially appointed Mendonça after Justice Marco Aurélio Mello’s retirement on July 12. Now the appointment awaits Senate confirmation. Mendonça is Bolsonaro’s second nomination for the court. In November 2020, he appointed Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, a judge whose Catholic faith was not very public. Mendonça’s nomination has been seen by many as a political maneuver by Bolsonaro to strengthen his ties with a significant segment of his voters. Daily religion news, straight to your inbox. Subscribe today. “Just as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative Catholic, was (former President Donald) Trump’s reward to his white evangelical and Catholic base, Mendonça is President Bolsonaro’s latest […]
