Far right and reactionary catholicism

The dispute for hegemony in the contemporary context and the return to the patriarchal house

Abstract

The article explores the reasons behind the affinity between the extreme right and reactionarytraditionalist Catholicism. To understand this relationship, this article analyzes a text that urged Catholics to vote for the leader of the Brazilian far right, Jair Bolsonaro, drawing parallels with the fascist writer Charles Maurras (1868–1952) and his historical context. The document, published on a website by a traditionalist Catholic priest during the 2018 elections, links ideas and figures separated by time and geography, yet united by a deep ideological communion. To investigate how religious-political reactionarism and the contemporary far right intersect, the article outlines the historical contexts of Bolsonaro and Maurras and interprets the document in comparison with Maurrasian thought. The central hypothesis posits that the relationship between the extreme right and Catholic reactionary-traditionalism is rooted in a shared worldview - one that offers a response to the social dislocations and fractures produced by capitalism. This worldview encompasses moral, economic, political, societal, and historical-philosophical dimensions. The research employs a qualitative methodology, based on a partial review of relevant literature and an analysis of primary and secondary sources related to the key figures and historical contexts referenced in the manifesto-letter. The article concludes that, in the context of neoliberal crisis, the ideas of the extreme right and Catholic reactionarism are in convergence, both in the content of the document and in the broader trajectories of the two political religious figures examined.