Rio de Janeiro temple called a ‘beacon for life’ as Brazil prepares for religious freedom symposium

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, center, talks with Bruno Kazuhiro, right, Rio’s secretary of tourism.

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, middle, talks with Bruno Kazuhiro, proper, the secretary of tourism for town of Rio de Janeiro as they end a tour of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Laryssa Garibaldi/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Luzia Lacerda films an interview with Elder Joni L. Koch and Sister Liliane Koch about the Rio de Janeiro Temple in March 2022.

Luzia Lacerda of the tv program Expo Faith movies an interview with Elder Joni L. Koch and Sister Liliane Koch for a present concerning the Rio de Janeiro Temple open home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Laryssa Gasparini/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presents a leather-bound copy of the Book of Mormon to Ricardo Queiroz.

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presents a leather-bound copy of the Ebook of Mormon to Ricardo Queiroz, a medical physician and healthcare administration skilled from Brasília, after a VIP tour of the Rio de Janeiro Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Laryssa Garibaldi/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

RIO DE JANEIRO — Three hours after a Latter-day Saint apostle will give a Catholic cardinal a tour of the brand new Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple Wednesday afternoon, they'll seem collectively on the opening panel of the primary Brazilian symposium on spiritual freedom.

The symposium’s unique dates have been rescheduled to coincide with the temple open home so members may take excursions earlier than it begins its sacred operations and closes to the general public.

“I used to be invited to be a part of the symposium and provides my message to all these nice spiritual leaders after which host them within the temple to see in what we consider,” stated Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“All these spiritual leaders have the chance to see a really sacred place for us the place we worship the Lord, the place we obtain the ordinances and make covenants,” he stated.

The primary panelist hosted by Elder Soares, a local Brazilian, will probably be Cardinal Orani Tempesta, the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro.

He and different Latter-day Saint leaders will take symposium members by the temple for the subsequent two days.

“They'll be a part of us in the identical feeling of respect and love for the ordinances of this gospel,” Elder Soares stated. “Then we're going to speak about spiritual freedom. We’re going to share our blessings of beliefs that we are able to share and reside in peace, particularly in a spot which could be very sacred to us. Each faith or each spiritual entity, they've their methods to point out worship to the Lord in the way in which they act and the way in which they reside.

“For us the temple is a beacon for all times. It’s a beacon for our personal life that blesses us with guarantees that we obtain in religion by the ordinances.”

The primary particular person to tour the temple with Elder Soares on Tuesday stated it helped him study far more about Latter-day Saint practices and beliefs.

“I used to be very concerning the baptism in honor of the folks that got here earlier than you in our household,” stated Bruno Kazuhiro, secretary of tourism for town of Rio. “I feel it’s very fascinating, as a result of I used to be all the time curious regarding Christianity about what occurs to folks that didn’t have the prospect to baptize and that by no means heard about Christianity.

“What occurs to those folks? Some religions say, ‘Effectively, in case you’re not baptized, what can we do?’ It’s very fascinating to see that this church has this philosophy, this doctrine which you could supply the chance to the folks from your loved ones that got here earlier than you to be baptized by you. I didn’t learn about that, and for me, it was a studying expertise. I'll always remember this particular level that I discovered immediately.”

Elder Soares stated his tackle throughout the panel dialogue on Wednesday night supplies a chance to share extra and work with different spiritual leaders to advertise peace.

“I really feel grateful for this chance, as a result of I’ll have the chance to testify by spiritual freedom rules concerning the fact that I consider and that I’ve been referred to as to testify,” he stated.

Elder Soares and the Church of Jesus Christ’s Brazil Space Presidency are internet hosting journalists and company on the Rio de Janeiro temple this week earlier than a six-week public open home begins on Saturday.

On Tuesday, they hosted excursions for high-ranking officers within the authorities of the state of Rio de Janeiro, town of Rio’s tourism secretary, necessary tv and radio journalists and others.

The well-known host of a weekly spiritual program on a state-operated TV community in Rio filmed a prolonged interview with Elder Joni L. Koch of the Brazil Space Presidency and Sister Liliane Koch for a 30-minute section that can air throughout the public open home.

Luzia Lacerda films an interview with Elder Joni L. Koch and Sister Liliane Koch about the Rio de Janeiro Temple in March 2022.

Luzia Lacerda of the tv program Expo Faith movies an interview with Elder Joni L. Koch and Sister Liliane Koch for a present concerning the Rio de Janeiro Temple open home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Laryssa Gasparini/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The host, Luzia Lacerda, a religious Catholic, additionally will take part within the spiritual liberty symposium, which runs by Friday.

Elder Soares will seem on a panel with Cardinal Tempesta, who has been the Archbishop of Rio for 13 years. Pope Francis made him a cardinal eight years in the past.

The opposite two panelists are also main spiritual figures in Brazil:

  • The manager secretary of the overall convention of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil, Stanley Arco.
  • Mohammed Al Bukai, a sheikh and imam who's the director of affairs of the Nationwide Union of Islamic Entities in Brazil.

“I really feel very grateful, very humble and on the similar time very proud to have the chance to fulfill good people who find themselves selling religion, who're selling peace, who're selling unity,” Elder Soares stated. “That’s an incredible factor. We're working all collectively for a similar function.”

Rio de Janeiro (actually River of January, named for a grand bay the unique Portuguese explorers noticed once they arrived), is a world-famous vacationer vacation spot, attracting 5 to six million vacationers per 12 months earlier than the pandemic. Greater than 2 million have been worldwide vacationers.

Kazuhiro, Rio’s tourism secretary, stated the brand new Latter-day Saint temple provides to town’s fame as a melting pot.

“It’s useful for town,” he stated. “It’s a really various metropolis. We've got loads of totally different religions. It’s clearly necessary for us to have a temple, an necessary, sacred place for one more faith right here within the metropolis. It helps us create our picture of a really cosmopolitan, various and democratic open society and open metropolis.”

He stated the Rio temple will probably be a vacation spot for 2 principal teams.

“The primary one is spiritual tourism, individuals who like to go to cathedrals, church buildings, temples,” Kazuhiro stated. “Those who wish to see totally different religions, once they come to town, most likely, they'll go not solely to town middle and to the South Zone the place you've gotten probably the most stunning locations, however most likely this temple will probably be a brand new merchandise for those that have this curiosity in religions. In all probability they’ll wish to get to understand it, to take an image, one thing like that.”

The second group is the church’s personal members, he stated. Latter-day Saints will come not solely from Rio de Janeiro, whose residents are generally known as Cariocas, however from cities and states round Rio.

“Earlier than, folks from the church in Rio needed to go to São Paulo or to Campinas to have these most necessary, most sacred ceremonies of their faith,” Kazuhiro stated. “Now they've the chance of doing this in Rio. For our Cariocas within the church, it’s essential. It’s an possibility nearer to their houses to have these totally different and extra sacred ceremonies the church affords. And I didn’t learn about that earlier than immediately.”

The tourism secretary stated the temple is an efficient match for Barra da Tijuca, western Rio’s fashionable neighborhood.

“It's a neighborhood of town that's rising economically,” he stated. “It is sensible for the church to guess on the Barra da Tijuca to be the place the place the temple is, so I feel it’s a great match for for town. It’s the place the place town is rising.”

Lacerda’s interview with Elder and Sister Koch will air on her present, “Expo Faith,” on TV Alerj. She is a religious Catholic.

“Her principal curiosity was to grasp what we're doing right here with the temple,” Elder Koch stated. “She used the Catholic Church for comparability, so she talked concerning the Eucharist and had us discuss concerning the sacrament. She talked Catholic monks and had us describe our lay clergy and the temple and the Phrase of Knowledge.”

She additionally lined a variety of different subjects, together with the church’s Easter traditions, instructing and retention of younger folks, the church’s missionary and household historical past work, and why the Angel Moroni on prime of the temple faces east (as a result of the Bible teaches Jesus Christ will return from the East), Sister Koch stated.

“She additionally requested concerning the function of Jesus Christ within the church, so we defined the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the significance of the identify of Christ within the church’s identify,” Sister Koch stated.

Lacerda instructed the Kochs she is going to put a hyperlink free of charge tickets to the Rio temple open home in her newspaper column. Throughout the filming, Elder Koch invited folks to come back and see the Rio temple.

The open home will run by April 30. Kazuhiro stated it'll assist some perceive a religion that now has 15 stakes (regional groupings of 5 to 12 congregations) within the state of Rio and 45,000 church members who within the temple district.

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presents a leather-bound copy of the Book of Mormon to Ricardo Queiroz.

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presents a leather-bound copy of the Ebook of Mormon to Ricardo Queiroz, a medical physician and healthcare administration skilled from Brasília, after a VIP tour of the Rio de Janeiro Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Laryssa Garibaldi/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“It was essential for me to go to the temple to not solely see the structure and the way it's clearly a wonderful place, but additionally it was helpful to grasp how the faith works and which ceremonies the temple has,” he stated.

Elder Soares stated the mix of the open home and the symposium will profit the twin members.

“It's a nice alternative for them to know extra concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ and what we consider, however then again, it’s an excellent alternative for me to rejoice with them as we go collectively on this journey,” Elder Soares stated. “I feel there are a lot of issues we have now in frequent, and we respect one another. We hope that we are able to go collectively to advertise a greater society.”

The Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple will probably be devoted on Sunday, Might 8.

The symposium is co-sponsored by two teams, the Brazilian Heart of Research in Legislation and Faith and Brigham Younger. College’s Worldwide Heart for Legislation and Faith Research.

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