Three Catholic places of worship in Álvaro Malaquias Santa Rosa, Rio, have reportedly been shut down by a drug boss. Yet the gun-wielding, cocaine-smuggling gang responsible are also adorned with evangelical tattoos, and their leader’s nickname is derived from the ichthys ‘Jesus’ fish.

Peixão (Big Fish) has been dubbed an “evangelical drug boss”, according to The Guardian. The favela he rules is known as the Complexo de Israel, where a neon Star of David glows over the brick rooftops at night. A 2021 police raid on one of his homes revealed a swimming pool bearing a mural of the Temple Mount and the words: “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord”.

On Saturday 6th July, a social media post by staff at Our Lady of Conception and Saint Justin Martyr Church announced that meetings and mass were suspended “until further notice”. The post was later deleted but local newspapers reported that the order had come from Peixão.

Broadsheet newspaper O Globo reported armed men on motorbikes had visited two other local churches, Saint Hedwig and Saint Cecilia, and decreed that weddings or christenings should not take place. Those churches also published messages announcing their temporary closure.

Both reports were denied by the Archdiocese of Rio, who insist services can continue as normal.

Brazil’s protestant evangelical community has seen a rapid rise, from less than 7% of the population in 1980 to about 30% today, according to The Guardian.

Catholic congregations, meanwhile, have shrunk dramatically. In 1991, 83% of Brazilians identified as Catholic, compared with about 50% today.

Journalist Octavio Guedes told GloboNews: “They call themselves evangelicals, but I refuse to use this term. In reality, [Peixão] is a narco-religious-fundamentalist.”