Editing Pedro II of Brazil (section)

=== Religious Issue ===
{{main|Religious Issue}}
[[File:Pedro II circa 1887b transparent.png|thumb|left|alt=Half-length photographic portrait of an older man with white hair and beard dressed in a dark jacket and necktie|Pedro, {{circa|1887}}]]

Soon after returning to Brazil, Pedro&nbsp;II was faced with an unexpected crisis. The Brazilian clergy had long been understaffed, undisciplined and poorly educated, leading to a great loss of respect for the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=254}}{{sfn|Carvalho|2007|p=151}} The imperial government had embarked upon a program of reform to address these deficiencies.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=254}} As Catholicism was the state religion, the government exercised a great deal of control over Church affairs, paying clerical salaries, appointing parish priests, nominating bishops, ratifying [[papal bull]]s and overseeing seminaries.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=254}}{{sfn|Carvalho|2007|p=150}} In pursuing reform, the government selected bishops who satisfied its criteria for education, support for reform and moral fitness.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=254}}{{sfn|Carvalho|2007|p=151}} However, as more capable men began to fill the clerical ranks, resentment of government control over the Church increased.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=254}}{{sfn|Carvalho|2007|p=151}}

The bishops of [[Olinda]] and [[Belém]] (in the provinces of Pernambuco and [[Pará]], respectively) were two of the new generation of educated and zealous Brazilian clerics. They had been influenced by the [[ultramontanism]], which spread among Catholics in this period. In 1872, they ordered [[Freemasons]] expelled from [[lay brotherhoods]].<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1999|pp=255–256}},
* {{harvnb|Carvalho|2007|p=153}},
* {{harvnb|Lira 1977, Vol 2|pp=205–206}}.</ref> While European Freemasonry often tended towards [[atheism]] and [[anti-clericalism]], things were much different in Brazil where membership in Masonic orders was common—although Pedro&nbsp;II himself was not a Freemason.{{sfn|Barman|1999|pp=255–256}} The government headed by the Viscount of Rio Branco tried on two separate occasions to persuade the bishops to repeal, but they refused. This led to their trial and conviction by the [[Superior Court of Justice (Brazil)|Superior Court of Justice]]. In 1874, they were sentenced four years at hard labor, although the Emperor commuted this to imprisonment only.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1999|p=257}},
* {{harvnb|Carvalho|2007|p=152}},
* {{harvnb|Lira 1977, Vol 2|p=208}}.</ref>

Pedro&nbsp;II played a decisive role by unequivocally backing the government's actions.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1999|pp=257–258}},
* {{harvnb|Carvalho|2007|p=153}},
* {{harvnb|Lira 1977, Vol 2|p=212}}.</ref> He was a conscientious adherent of Catholicism, which he viewed as advancing important civilizing and civic values. While he avoided anything that could be considered unorthodox, he felt free to think and behave independently.{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=253}} The Emperor accepted new ideas, such as [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[evolution]], of which he remarked that "the laws that he [Darwin] has discovered glorify the Creator".{{sfn|Besouchet|1993|p=34}} He was moderate in his religious beliefs but could not accept disrespect to civil law and government authority.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1999|p=92}},
* {{harvnb|Carvalho|2007|p=153}},
* {{harvnb|Lira 1977, Vol 2|p=213}}.</ref> As he told his son-in-law: "[The government] has to ensure that the constitution is obeyed. In these proceedings there is no desire to protect masonry; but rather the goal of upholding the rights of the civilian power."{{sfn|Barman|1999|p=257}} The crisis was resolved in September 1875 after the Emperor grudgingly agreed to grant full amnesty to the bishops and the [[Holy See]] annulled the interdicts.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1999|p=270}},
* {{harvnb|Lira 1977, Vol 2|p=208}},
* {{harvnb|Carvalho|2007|p=156}}.</ref>