Get news about your favorite shows and movies plus 3 free credits to watch locked content Check your inbox for the latest news about your favorite shows and movies If there ARE space travelers from outside the Earth Stories of UFOs abound in our country, but an incident in Brazil in 1996 is the focus of the documentary Moment of Contact The film by James Fox suggests that the Brazilian town of Varghinha is something like the Roswell of Brazil. The movie screens in Ashland in early December (the 9th) James Fox talks to us about what he found on his visit to Varginha This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 1091 PicturesAn artist’s rendition of the alien life form allegedly spotted in Varginha three young witnesses between the ages of 14 and 22 claimed to have seen something strange in Varginha and red eyes — and they referred to it as a “devil.” several other residents would come forward These eerie phenomena would soon become known as the Varginha UFO incident the details became murkier and more outrageous Some claimed to have seen UFOs flying through the skies while others alleged that extraterrestrials were being rounded up by the military and placed under investigation at a local hospital The government denied all of these reports The strange “creature” the three young witnesses had seen that was just a homeless man nicknamed “Mudinho.” The aliens seen at the hospital Nothing more than an expectant couple with dwarfism Today, the city of Varginha, much like Roswell leans heavily into the story of its infamous UFO experience selling Varginha alien dolls and even adorning a water tower with a UFO-shaped saucer who insist it was all true to this very day and their friend Katia Andrade were walking across a vacant lot in the city of Varginha they suddenly came across a strange creature crouching in the weeds with massive red eyes and a disproportionately large head crowned with three bumps They also noted something else peculiar about the creature: its foul smell appeared “sad,” and just as frightened of them as they were of it and the sisters reportedly told their mother they had seen the “devil.” 1091 PicturesSketches drawn of the Varginha alien “It wasn’t a man or an animal — it was something different,” Andrade said, according to a 1996 article in The Wall Street Journal. The news of this strange “ET” quickly spread around town What the young women hadn’t realized at the time was that theirs was not the only sighting of this creature — or the craft it allegedly came out of a pilot by the name of Carlos Souza claimed to have seen a strange cigar-shaped object about the size of a school bus flying above Varginha he noted that it was losing altitude and appeared to be emitting white smoke Believing it to be “an aircraft in trouble,” according to a 2022 News.com article he followed its trajectory and arrived in an open field he allegedly found metal debris littering the ground — and a foul stench in the air “like rotten eggs.” the area was swarmed by military personnel 20 — just hours before the creature was spotted — a couple living nearby allegedly observed a similar craft flying through the sky They claimed it looked as though it had sustained significant damage to its fuselage — and it was heading toward the city 1091 PicturesCarlos Souza at the scene of the aircraft crash Shortly after, residents in the Jardim Andere neighborhood called emergency services to report that a strange animal had been seen running through the streets. According to a translated EBC article a construction worker claimed to have seen authorities trap the creature inside a wooden box and take it away others reported seeing men in military uniforms in town Some claim they heard shots fired from the men’s rifles the Silva sisters and Andrade allegedly spotted the creature a 23-year-old police officer named Marco Eli Chereze allegedly caught one of these creatures grabbing it with his bare hands and ushering it into his car Witnesses claimed he then drove the creature to a nearby hospital for observation 1091 PicturesNewspaper reports about the alleged Varginha alien encounters The creature — which hospital staff denied ever seeing — allegedly died at some point in the night then was placed on a troop transport truck bound for the Weapons Sergeant School witnesses claimed that a military convoy left Varginha carrying the bodies of extraterrestrials they had collected to be examined by scientists at the State University of Campinas when officer Marco Eli Chereze was hospitalized due to severe pain in his arm and the onset of paralysis Chereze allegedly underwent surgery to remove an abscess from his armpit — then died days later from a generalized infection some claim that the illness was caused by alien bacteria that transferred to Chereze when he grabbed the creature and put it in his car the official story presented by government officials is far less fantastical In 2021, ISTOÉ obtained official documents from the Brazilian Army regarding the purported Varginha UFO incident The documents outlined the Brazil government’s investigation into the case particularly the events that took place on Jan 20 and the allegations that military personnel had captured aliens in Brazil and hidden the evidence Lieutenant Colonel Lúcio Carlos Pereira, the man in charge of the Military Police Inquiry, claimed that the Silva sisters and Andrade had never seen an extraterrestrial creature at all “Mudinho,” who likely had a mental disorder of some kind and he lived near the area where the girls had seen the “ET.” Wikimedia CommonsA water tower adorned with the likeness of a UFO in Varginha As for why residents had seen military vehicles around Varginha at the time Military Justice prosecutor Antônio Antero dos Santos said it was “all just routine work,” and that army trucks had simply left the barracks for “normal maintenance work in a workshop.” With hindsight, even some UFO believers look back at the Varginha UFO incident and say “There is no proof that an extraterrestrial being was captured in Varginha… People said that they saw but this does not serve as scientific proof our tendency was to believe that it was a being from another planet.” But what about the fate of Marco Eli Chereze How could this strange death possibly be explained “The death occurred due to a strong hospital infection after the operation,” said former commander of the 24th Military Police Battalion of Varginha “Former soldier Chereze was not involved in any incident with extraterrestrials.” there are those out there who still believe something crashed in Varginha that day — and that the government investigation was nothing more than a coverup Brazil – Starbucks Coffee Company today announced the opening of its first Farmer Support Center in Brazil the new Farmer Support Center extends Starbucks presence in a key coffee producing region and aims to provide valuable resources to local coffee communities as part of the company’s commitment to source coffee responsibly for the betterment of people and the planet As Starbucks continues to work to improve the livelihoods of coffee farmers the Farmer Support Center will enable Starbucks to work alongside local producers suppliers and agencies to learn more about the unique environmental and social challenges facing the region gain greater knowledge of advanced growing techniques and collaborate on long-term solutions to best support farmers coffee is core to who we are and what we do,” said Alfredo Nuno director Global Farmer Support Centers and Hacienda Alsacia at Starbucks “The opening of the Starbucks Brazil Farmer Support Center represents an important milestone in Starbucks continued investments in coffee growing communities As we aspire to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all we believe the knowledge we gather through the relationships built by this Farmer Support Center will play a significant role in our efforts to elevate the coffee-growing supply chain in Brazil and around the world.” profitable and sustainable coffee growing practices Starbucks Sustainability Coordinators working at the Farmer Support Center will implement projects workshops and trainings relevant to the unique needs of the coffee growers such as safety best-practices and complex labor and environmental regulations The Farmer Support Center also aims to provide on-the-ground trainings for C.A.F.E the company’s ethical sourcing verification program “Starbucks physical presence through the new Brazil Farmer Support Center will enable more direct timely and in the field conversations with the many farmers in our cooperative,” said Lucio Dias Director of Guaxupé Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative “We are looking forward to strengthening our relationship with Starbucks and working together to advance our mutual goal of producing high-quality coffee that adheres to both C.A.F.E Practices and local rules and regulations in a sustainable way.” Building on the proven success of Starbucks nine other Farmer Support Centers located in coffee-producing countries around the world including a total of five in Latin America the company leverages its Farmer Support Centers to provide open-source agronomy and trainings on ethical sourcing practices to farmers regardless of whether or not they sell to Starbucks since the opening of the first Farmer Support Center in 2004 in Costa Rica the company has trained more than 200,000 farmers through the program © Copyright 2025 | Editoriale Comunicaffè P.IVA 05752870963 | tel the objective of Comunicaffe International has been to provide an updated punctual and essential information service to operators in the sector cocoa and tea supply chains in order to develop critical thinking and debate Comunicaffe International is also a daily newsletter sent to 38.000 professionals in Italy and more than 85.000 worldwide Varginha is a city located in the southeast of Brazil 300 miles away from big cities like Belo Horizonte The town is mostly known for its UFO incident in 1996 but today we’re not going to focus on this I think of the hottest prospect in the UFC strawweight division her name is Amanda Limborço Alcântara Ribas.  Last Saturday at UFC Brasilia, many Brazilian fighters performed well against foreign opponents. The standouts were Renato Moicano, Charles Oliveira, and Amanda. Leading up to the fights I wrote about the careers of Oliveira and Moicano so it felt natural to take the time to focus on Amanda who looked like a star in her fight against Randa Markos.  While Carneiro gets to train on a daily basis with the likes of Dustin Poirier Ribas has great teammates like Joanna Jedrzejczyk and it appears that she’s following the same path Amanda started to train martial arts at a young age a muay thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teacher who has his own gym in Varginha It’s natural that the young girl started to train Jiu-Jitsu and Judo After running through the girl’s brackets at tournaments She won the state championship then the nationals until her whole world crashed down like thunder Marcelo’s daughter and her love for martial arts were seriously challenged after a series of knee injuries The girl who spent all her life competing could not compete was now erased by the sadness of being reduced to a bed in her hometown of Varginha She never lost motivation and never lacked support the same boys she was defeating as a kid were now big teenagers who cheered for her recovery and her future she came back even better after the injuries and took on a new challenge - fighting in mixed martial arts.  With extreme confidence in her background in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Ribas went to Vegas in 2014 and won the IMMAF world championship Amanda did not waste a second with her career and started to fight pro for a local promotion - Pentagon Combat she signed with the prestigious Brazilian MMA promotion Jungle Fight which was founded by Wallid Ismail in 2003 all fought for this promotion at some point before moving to the UFC She won her debut via unanimous decision and fought again three months later in Rio de Janeiro Amanda opened this fight with a series of jabs and right straights as she pressured her opponent who threw a kick that Ribas caught in order to take the fight to the ground put the hooks in and secured the rear naked choke her grappling background was more than enough to get the victory Amanda used the right strategy in pressuring her opponent in order to get the fight to the ground Amanda faced another current UFC fighter in Polyana Viana but Amanda lost her balance after overextending and took a big counter right on the chin that rocked her pretty badly Polyana did a great job finishing the fight just after that She took some time off and fought seven months later for another promotion named Max Fight There was still a lot of work to do in the striking department but we can already see the improvement compared to her last fight It was with her judo throws that she got the fight to the ground before finishing in violent fashion she signed a UFC contract and moved to Florida after receiving an invitation to train at American Top Team but she was suspended by USADA and “accepted” a 24 month suspension She always denied using illegal substances and vowed to prove her innocence she went back to Brazil and trained in every city she could go to focusing on her craft and getting ready for that delayed UFC debut USADA reduced her suspension when they discovered that the traces came from a tainted supplement Ribas called that suspension “A gift from God” because it gave her time to improve she was more than ready for her awaited UFC debut.  It had been a little over three years since her last fight It only took a few seconds for the audience to realize that the stiffness in Amanda’s striking was gone completely moving her upper body as she pressured Whitmire and Amanda already had her back with the body triangle secured. She switched hands for the choke Whitmire defended the hands well and eventually reversed the position postured up and attempted to throw flurries but Amanda did a good job on her back avoiding any damage Whitmire finally settled into Amanda’s guard.  Amanda started round 2 the same way she started the fight After landing some good body-head combinations and sunk in the rear naked choke as soon as Whitmire gave her back “I’m a black belt in Judo in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but a white belt in English since I’m a kid I’m sleeping in the cage and my gloves are my pillows” Amanda Ribas Despite being still very young at 26 years old When she was offered the opportunity to face Mackenzie Dern three months later in Florida Dern was undefeated and also a huge name in the strawweight division Mackenzie’s successful background in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu made her an exciting challenge for Ribas it was clear Amanda’s striking was so much sharper than Mackenzie’s who put too much weight behind the right hand She was looking so desperately to land a big 1-2 used her jab as bait for Dern to throw the right hand and then countered her with beautiful right hooks and right straights Dern’s right hand was countered the same way at least six times in round 1 Mackenzie tried to get the fight to the ground as she shot a single leg under Amanda’s jab When Dern circled towards Amanda’s left side the Brazilian threw a few spinning back kicks to the body Dern definitely slowed down during the fight due to Amanda’s body work She used it not only to draw out the right hand She also used that pawing jab to blind Mackenzie while she took an angle on her she looked so much different than a few years ago Her striking improvement was likely due to training with fighters like Joanna and Nina Ansaroff the speed advantage for Amanda in that fight was incredible She threw a jab and stepped out of range as Dern tried to counter with the left hook Ribas moved back in range and on the same beat she stepped up with a second jab and was out of range for Dern to counter her with the left hand again landed a right hand to the body followed by that big left hook over Dern’s counter then followed with another right hand behind it that landed but Amanda sent her to the ground with a hip throw with shocking ease The fight went to the ground on a few occasions but Amanda stopped most single leg attempts from the Californian Dern got more and more eager to land something big and was countered easily by the much improved girl from Varginha Amanda had landed more than 70 significant strikes while Dern landed less than 20 Amanda fought the UFC veteran Randa Markos in Brasilia Markos slipped and Ribas joined her on the ground moving from half guard to full mount in seconds attacking with some nice elbows against the Canadian find an underhook and get back on her feet but in the process she ate two big knees to the body Amanda’s kicks to the body were a huge part of the fight she landed two consecutive spinning back kicks to the body before taking her down to half guard She grabbed an overhook and framed Randa’s head to set up a big series of elbows or used her opponent’s momentum to hip throw and Randa had top control for over a minute but eventually she was swept and Amanda finished very strong landing another series of big elbows on top Randa Markos is a solid strawweight but she had absolutely nothing for Amanda but her next fight has to be someone ranked near the top of the division So far it’s been too easy for her and it would be very interesting to see her face someone like Tatiana Suarez or Marina Rodriguez We need to see her against someone who could pressure her a lot and go at least even on the ground Personally I’m super excited to see Amanda back in the cage and I have nothing short of championship expectations for what the cute little terror from Varginha can become James Fox shared a UFO story with Joe Rogan that could probably stop a lot of people from sleeping at night Fox released the popular UFO documentary "Moment of Contact" in 2022 and the film covers the Varginha UFO incident in Brazil in 1996 The situation is sometimes referred to as "The Roswell of Brazil" or "Brazil's Roswell." The 1996 incident allegedly involved creatures that are best described as demonic and a UFO in Varginha Some believe Brazilian authorities successfully captured the creatures/aliens and likely never would be even on the off chance it was real Some reporting indicates what people believed were aliens were just a pair of people with dwarfism at a hospital expecting a baby Fox painted a picture that is nothing short of absolutely horrifying Fox alleges one of the creatures was "crouched" by a wall and "screeched" out to some young women in the area That's not the most bone-chilling part The creature allegedly communicated to one of the young Brazilian women "please help me" because "it's weak it's feeble and it's scared," Fox explained to a truly stunned Joe Rogan Fox also claims the smell of the unknown creatures was overwhelming and stayed with people for an extended period of time The witnesses were also allegedly pressured by unknown men to take a suitcase of money and go elsewhere to start over I think an alien spaceship crashed and they recovered live aliens and we made contact and the Americans came in.' That's what I'm thinking about," the documentarian filmmaker further explained to Rogan when talking about how people reacted when he returned from Brazil after doing his research Generally speaking, I'm very skeptical of anything that touches the paranormal world. Yes, we keep a very open mind at OutKick. It's something we pride ourselves on, and to be fair, there is plenty of fascinating UFO footage out there This is the type of stuff that should keep you awake at night Fox claims the military shut everything down and then a couple young women came across some kind of creature - possibly an alien - that cries out for help That's going to be a hard pass from me, folks. A VERY hard pass. Talking about UFOs and aliens is all fun and games until they start screeching out in pain - if true What was the Varginha UFO incident in Brazil Were aliens found in Brazil in 1996 and it was covered up it seems unlikely a coverup is even possible Governments are very incompetent when it comes to hiding stuff Any large organization is going to have leaks and there's no concrete proof any aliens were found We might never know what the truth is behind the Varginha UFO incident I hope James Fox's version of events isn't correct You are agreeing to OutKick's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting. Gambling related content is not intended for anyone under the age of 21. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER Amanda Ribas is the most popular UFC fighter from Varginha But she’s not what the town is best known for Many believe an extraterrestrial creature made an appearance in the area in the 1990s The supposed sighting turned Varginha into a UFO hot spot for decades several people reported seeing a UFO over farms around the town The craft allegedly flew over their farm for over 40 minutes Then a man driving on the freeway allegedly saw the same flying object fall from the sky When he drove in that direction to help victims of what he believed was an airship crash he alleged police officers and the army stopped him from getting any closer a pregnant woman named Katia Xavier was taking a shortcut home with her teenage friends Liliane Silva and Valquiria Silva when they allegedly saw a creature like no other A neighborhood man told reporters that firemen showed up and took “that weird animal” away “There’s no way it was human or any other animal,” Xavier told local TV network EPTV 10 years later Veterinarians were unable to discover the cause tapirs and ocelots died due to an “unidentified toxic-caustic substance,” they said at the time Local authorities and the Brazilian army never confirmed any of these stories Ribas often does her training camps at Florida’s American Top Team but she prefers to stay in Varginha most of the year working at her family’s gym She was only 3 years old when the incidents allegedly happened she has plenty of theories about what happened “My grandmother says she saw [the creature] walking down a hill and tried to feed it,” Ribas said on MMA Fighting’s Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca He thinks it was an unemployed reporter that saw a weird animal around the same time that movie E.T He scared some girls in the street and police were called and everybody showed up was released 14 years prior to the alleged incidents “Aliens,” released in 1986 and directed by James Cameron “I don’t think we’re alone in the [universe],” she said I believe it would be selfish of us to think we’re alone [in the universe] maybe I say I don’t believe and something pulls my feet at night There are a lot of trees in front of my house A third incident happened in Varginha seven months after the 10-year anniversary of the alleged UFO sighting. A woman was getting her breakfast ready when a cow blasted through the roof and fell inside the kitchen People immediately tried to connect the incidents believing that extraterrestrials were trying to transport a cow in a spaceship “People say a ship was trying to catch the cow,” Ribas said so the cow simply walked from a higher lot over the roof “[Varginha] is very special,” Ribas said with a laugh Published: Invalid Date DECADES after "demonic aliens" supposedly crash landed in a Brazilian city the bizarre event remains a mystery with a string of unanswered questions In 1996, military vehicles stormed Varginha after dozens of panicked residents reported evidence of extraterrestrial life - an incident later dubbed the "Roswell of Brazil" Zoo animals collapsed and died and a police officer who grabbed the "alien" mysteriously died without an explanation to this day Varginha - 180 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro in the state of Minas Gerais - became infamous for the city's obsession with a grey submarine-shaped object the size of a minibus crash landing in their town has yet to be proved or unproved by either side of the debate Government officials bizarrely blamed the "alien" sightings on a dwarf couple and a dirty disabled man - but decades of cover-ups and lucky coincidences have fuelled the conspiracy It was described by locals as having wobbly legs and being very unsteady on its feet as it looked badly sick and injured from the crash. With two huge red balls for eyes and brown, oily skin the alien-like creature was certainly memorable. Appearing hairless and scared stiff the little creature was apparently tracked down by petrified police. was the first person to come into contact with the being - but after he tried to grab it barehanded he fell ill with a mysterious sickness the man suffered a full-body infection and died just weeks later Others reports from the Varginha public say they saw a strange metal object slowly falling out of the sky before it smashed into the ground A powerful and almost overbearing smell of sulphur was then wafting around the neighbourhood Carlos de Souza saw the initial crash landing as the strange object fell from the sky He spoke to researcher Claudeir Covo back in 1996 and gave a chilling description of what he saw Carlos said: "It was floating and slowly losing altitude “It looked like a washing machine struggling fighting to keep its altitude and the side of it was completely torn and it had white smoke coming out." But over two decades on when Carlos spoke again He later described: "I observed a lot of debris pieces and when I got out of the car I immediately smelled ammonia so strong that I had to cover my nose with the shirt I was wearing Then he recalls being chased away by the military carrying big guns and telling him to leave the entire town was engulfed by military trucks and people in army uniforms blocking off roads and stopping anyone coming into the city or near where the crash had happened A few hours after the original concerning sightings three sisters ranging from 14 to 22-years-old reported to their mum that they saw a weird "thing" by a fence The trio of women described the creature as a large headed thing with "spots like veins on the skin and some bumps on the head." One of the girls Liliane Silva said to the media afterwards: "What we saw wasn’t human Sister Valquiria agreed and said: "It wasn’t a man When they saw the alien-like being they quickly looked the other way and made a beeline for the comfort of the family home where their mum told them they had seen the "devil" Rumours then began to spread through the tight-knit area with several more reports of UFOs sightings in the days prior The claims included people seeing unidentified creatures being collected and taken to the local hospital to be examined Military trucks patrolled the town for a few days after the initial sightings as a very peculiar animal type creature was seen "prowling" around a forest and several unexplained animal deaths in the local zoo occurred Ufologists would later allege that the alien might've got the animals pregnant as a potential explanation for the random deaths only finished in 2010 where they blamed the apparent sightings on pure coincidence and rather convenient occurrences for the people of Varginha The young women's claims were spectacularly put down to a homeless mentally and physically unstable man nicknamed "Mudinho." A military commander showed photographs of Mudinho and said his physical characteristics matched the description the sisters gave Reasons for the man's devilish look and awkward posture was due to him "probably being dirty due to the heavy rains and seen crouching by a wall" The commander claimed Mudinho, "was mistaken by the three terrified girls as a space creature," and he probably had some "mental disability" The head of the official inquiry went on to say that the military trucks and people present were simply performing a routine night of duties nearby Varginha so were able to quickly arrive in the town He said: "The departure of the vehicles were real facts incorrectly interpreted as firefighters and the military participating in the capture and later the transport of the alleged creature to Campinas "The presence of the firefighters and the parking of army trucks in the vicinity of the area was where their periodic maintenance would be carried out." The Brazilian authorities also put out a crazy coincidental statement that the aliens allegedly seen in hospital days after were actually just a dwarf couple who were expecting their first child the Brazilian government have continued to deny any conspiracy theories claiming it was hiding extraterrestrials Despite the lacking of any real evidence of the alien encounters the town of Varginha still celebrates what they believe to be the truest human encounter with aliens ever Tourism in the city has been booming ever since, with little grey alien dolls being sold in huge numbers and the town even using the alien descriptions in advertising campaigns for the area Bus stops were shaped like spaceships and a 20m tall water tower identical to a UFO was stuck directly in the middle of town in 2001 It was named the Nave Espacial de Varginha or the Varginha Spaceship popular filmmaker James Fox released Moment of Contact - a hit documentary retelling the alleged events that took place in Brazil The key witness in the film was an anonymous military expert known as "Military X" who claims they were part of the group of military officials who first captured the alien and he saw it being transported in a little grey box into a military truck The person also said a video was taken and does exist somewhere in the hands of the government but never released The US government were supposedly on hand to help get rid of any evidence from the UFO crash and were also given the bodies that were recovered then it lines up very conveniently with the recent claims made by UFO officials and whistle blowers across the US and the world Top UFO chief Sean Kirkpatrick told the world that he is set to step down next month from his job following his stern warning of concerning activity "in our backyard." The Pentagon's UFO analysis office launched a UFO reporting service to the public after admitting to uncovering "some things" and calling the high number of suspicious activity either a foreign power or aliens Navy jet footage has revealed the intriguing images of a government-confirmed UFO baffling the internet The United States Government launched the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022 to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) Researchers have also recently verified the legitimacy of a set of three-fingered mummies as potential evidence of "non-human" life forms A line-up of doctors confirmed at Mexico's Congress on Tuesday that the bodies, purportedly not of this Earth Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/ The leader of the Catholic Church defies security concerns to walk through an area known locally as the "Gaza Strip" Despite Varginha's extreme poverty and unrest — not to mention the day's heavy rain — its residents arrived in droves to greet the Catholic Church's highest leader An enormous crowd gathers at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach to hear Pope Francis celebrate Mass Shielded from the rain by a large umbrella Pope Francis is greeted by residents of Rio's Varginha slum From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox A woman holds a poster of Pope Francis as she stands in the doorway of her home in Varginha Pope Francis shakes hands and greets residents Members of the crowd hold posters with Pope Francis' face as they await his arrival in Varginha A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Kimberly AltersKimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University dubbed the “slum pope” for his work with the poor received a rapturous welcome yesterday (July 25) from one of Rio’s most violent shantytowns and demanded the world’s wealthy end the injustices that have left the poor on the margins of society He received an even more frenzied welcome as he opened a rain-soaked World Youth Day in a far different setting: Rio’s upscale Copacabana Beach he showed off some of his offbeat — almost rebellious — personality telling pilgrims from his native Argentina that he wanted them to make trouble shake things up in their dioceses and make a “mess” by going out into the streets to spread the faith “We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder but I want trouble in the dioceses!” he said speaking off the cuff in his native Spanish “I want to see the church get closer to the people this closing ourselves off within ourselves Amid the stench of raw sewage and the shrieks of residents Pope Francis made his way through the Varginha shantytown part of a region so violent it’s known as the Gaza Strip The 76-year-old Argentine seemed entirely at home kissing residents young and old and telling them the Roman Catholic Church was on their side It was a message aimed at reversing the decline in the numbers of Catholics in most of Latin America with many poor worshippers leaving the church for Pentecostal and evangelical congregations Those churches have taken up a huge presence in favelas attracting souls with nuts-and-bolts advice on how to improve their lives “No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world!” Pope Francis told a crowd of thousands who braved a cold rain and stood in a muddy soccer field to welcome him “No amount of peace-building will be able to last nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself.” It was one of the highlights of Pope Francis’ weeklong trip to Brazil his first as pope and one seemingly tailor-made for the first pontiff from the Americas he travelled in his open-sided car through a massive crowd in the pouring rain to a welcoming ceremony on Copacabana beach It was his first official event with the hundreds of thousands of young people who have flocked to Rio for World Youth Day Cheering pilgrims from 175 nations lined the beachfront drive to catch a glimpse of Francis with many jogging along with the vehicle behind police barricades The car stopped several times for Pope Francis to kiss babies — and take a long sip of his beloved mate the traditional Argentine tea served in a gourd with a straw which was handed up to him by someone in the crowd driven home by the pouring rain that brought out vendors selling the plastic ponchos that have adorned cardinals and pilgrims alike during this unseasonably cold In an indication of the havoc wreaked by four days of steady showers organisers made an almost unheard-of change in the festival’s agenda moving the Saturday vigil and climactic Sunday Mass to Copacabana Beach from a rural area 50km from the city centre making the overnight camping plans of pilgrims untenable diocese who attended the past five World Youth Days and complained that organisation in Rio was lacking That place is a mud pit and I was concerned about the kid’s health and that they might catch hypothermia,” he said I just wish the organisers would have told us.” Pope Francis added a last-minute tweak of his own to his busy schedule meeting with pilgrims from his native Argentina at Rio’s cathedral yesterday afternoon with an estimated 30,000 Argentines registered to get out into the streets and spread their faith saying a church that doesn’t go out and preach simply becomes an NGO “And the church cannot be an NGO!” he said to wild applause He then compared the purity of the Catholic faith with the blended fruit drinks popular in Brazil: “Please don’t drink a “licuado de fe!” Faith is complete!” Pope Francis’ visit to the Varginha slum followed in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II who visited two such favelas during a 1980 trip to Brazil and Mother Teresa who visited Varginha itself in 1972 Her Missionaries of Charity order has kept a presence in the shantytown ever since Pope Francis brought his own personal history to the visit: As archbishop of Buenos Aires then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently preached in the poverty-wracked slums of his native city putting into action his belief that the Catholic Church must go to the farthest peripheries to preach and not sit back and wait for the most marginalised to come to Sunday Mass Pope Francis’ open-air car was mobbed on a few occasions as he headed into Varginha’s heavily policed He was showered with gifts as he walked down one of the slum’s main drags without an umbrella to shield him from the rain A well-wisher gave him a paper lei to hang around his neck and he held up another offering — a scarf from his favourite soccer team get everyone so excited,” said Antonieta de Souza Costa a 56-year-old vendor and resident of Varginha “I think this visit is going to bring people back to the Catholic Church.” Pope Francis acknowledged that young people in particular have a sensitivity toward injustice “You are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good,” Pope Francis told the crowd do not allow your hope to be extinguished.” It was a clear reference to the violent protests that paralysed parts of the country in recent weeks as Brazilians furious over rampant corruption and inefficiency within the country’s political class took to the streets Pope Francis blasted what he said was a “culture of selfishness and individualism” that permeates society today demanding that those with money and power share their wealth and resources to fight hunger and poverty “It is certainly necessary to give bread to the hungry — this is an act of justice the hunger for a happiness that only God can satisfy,” he said The Varginha slum butts up against what until about six months ago was the largest “cracolandia” — crackland — in Brazil where hundreds of crack cocaine users gathered under a train overpass and used the drug openly night and day Crumbling brittle shacks still give the area a bombed-out feeling Neighbours said local authorities had been busy in recent days with a flurry of last-minute spruce-ups that included repairing cracked and uneven sidewalks and trimming long-dead limbs from the exuberant tropical vegetation Security was tight: In addition to the police helicopters metal barricades held the crowd at bay and police officers were posted every 2m Police invaded the slum in January and pushed out a heavily armed drug gang known as the Red Command then set up a permanent police post in the area which had seen virtually no government presence for decades The citywide programme started in 2008 to secure Rio de Janeiro before it hosts the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics Todayonline.com and Today Online domains and apps are now part of 'Channelnewsasia.com' domain We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with TODAY to be fast Upgraded but still having issues? 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