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  Defending the Powerless in Brazil: Bishop to Plead With Benedict XVI to Help Amazon Poor

Defending the Powerless in Brazil Bishop to Plead With Benedict XVI to Help Amazon Poor

By Jens Glüsing in Rio de Janeiro

Part 4: 'When I Came to Altamira, This Was a Paradise'

That effort also had its consequences. Before the controversial law was ratified, a truck slammed into Kräutler's Volkswagen, killing his passenger, an Italian priest, on the spot. The bishop's jaw was crushed and he almost lost an eye when his head slammed into the steering wheel. After the accident, an unknown man gained entry to the hospital where Kräutler was being treated. He threw back the blanket covering the body of the Italian priest, and coolly said: "We got the wrong man."

The bishop's current enemies are easily recognized. They sport colorful stickers that read "Belo Monte Belongs to Us" on their SUVs. Belo Monte is the name of a dam the government plans to build on the Xingu River. The resulting reservoir would flood thousands of hectares of jungle and could extend to the outskirts of Altamira.

Environmental activists, indigenous people and small farmers are vehemently opposed to the giant project, and Kräutler heads the protest movement. His opponents, who accuse him of inciting unrest within the population, have recently been bold enough to issue a public call for his murder.

But the clergyman refuses to be intimidated. "When I came to Altamira, this was a paradise," he says. "I will not simply sit here and do nothing as it disappears under water."

Kräutler has eight years left until retirement, and he plans to use the time to prevent Belo Monte from being built. And then? "Hardly any priests come here from Austria anymore," says Kräutler. The Church in the Amazon region suffers from a dearth of new blood. Locals prefer more comfortable positions. Kräutler has 26 priests for his 800 parishes, but he says that he needs ten times as many.

"Nowadays all the church cares about is that young priests are trained to sing nicely," complains Father Amara de Souza, 40, a colleague of the murdered nun Dorothy Stang. De Souza is continuing Stang's work in Anapu. He drives her white VW Beetle, which he has named Doroteia -- the Portuguese form of Dorothy -- to visit the villages of the landless in the jungle.

Father Amaro, who has also received death threats, has acquired two large guard dogs for his protection. But he is more concerned about a change in the Church's direction, fearing that a conservative bishop could replace Kräutler. "Who will support me when Dom Erwin retires?" he asks.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan