A Brazilian man who was forcibly laicized by the Church two years ago, meaning expelled from the priesthood, is now appealing to the secular Supreme Court in the world’s largest Catholic country, in effect seeking damages against the church he claims unjustly penalized him.
Although laicization is an internal church matter and thus normally considered beyond the reach of secular courts, an attorney for the ex-priest is arguing that because the Vatican has treaty agreements with Brazil, it’s obligated to abide by Brazilian guarantees of due process and a right to defence.
The lawsuit does not seek to compel the church to reinstate Alcimir Pillotto to the priesthood, but rather to force the church to reinstate his pension and cover his insurance costs. The case already has been dismissed at lower levels, but attorneys are now vowing to take it to the country’s Supreme Court.
Pillotto, who had been in charge of a parish in the city of Blumenau in Brazil’s Santa Catarina State in the southern part of the country, was expelled from the clerical state in 2020.