President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received this Thursday (26), at Palácio do Planalto, apostolic leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, originally founded in the United States (USA), and whose members are popularly known as Mormons. According to the Presidency’s Social Communication Secretariat (Secom), the group paid a courtesy visit to the president, and they discussed the church’s missionary work in Brazil, including humanitarian aid actions.
The religious were represented by the apostle Ulisses Soares, the main Mormon authority in Brazil; by former governor of the US state of Utah, USA, Michael Leavitt, president of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, part of the Mormon Church; and by Salt Lake City church director and former U.S. Senator Gordon Smith. Three other representatives of the religious group also participated in the meeting. The Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, participated in the meeting.
Secom reported that, during the meeting, the apostles explained to Lula, in more detail, the functioning of the church and the religious work carried out. They cited, for example, the involvement of their members in supporting families affected by the floods that devastated Rio Grande do Sul, in 2024, and offered to do similar work in helping those affected by storms in Zona da Mata in Minas Gerais, which have already resulted in 59 deaths.
Still according to Secom, Mormon leaders thanked the president for his work in defense of religious freedom in Brazil and cited the sanction, in 2003, during Lula’s first term, of Religious Freedom Acthighlighting the country as one of the most protective of the right to worship in the world.
