Mar 06, 2026
3 min read
Former Pastor Lagoinha celebrated bombings in the Middle East in Brazil, the family church was named in reports and investigations involving banks, campaign flights and MP Nicolas Ferreira.
As a special correspondent for Correspondent Brasil, he won many journalism awards, including the Vladimir Herzog Prize.He directed the documentary Amazon War Correspondent and is involved with the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigative Network.
Ana Paula Valadao uses tobacco to divert attention from the "Master Case" in Iran
Former Lagoinha priest celebrates bombings in Middle EastIn Brazil, the family church was mentioned in reports and investigations involving banks, advertising airplanes and deputy Nicolas Ferreira.
For many years one of the most famous faces of the Baptist Church of Lagoinha, pastor and singer Ana Paula Valadão - now removed from the denomination due to a family separation and a disagreement with her brother, André Valadão - said in videos posted on social networks that she was "touched" by the attacks of the United States and Israel on Iran.
Lagoinha, founded in Belo Horizonte, has in recent decades become one of the largest religious buildings in the country. It has grown to more than 600 units in Brazil and abroad.Diante do Trono, a gospel group formed in 1998 and led by Ana Paula, helped turn the service into a spectacle.The group has sold millions of records, filled stadiums and consolidated the Lagoinha brand beyond the temple.
The video of the pastor and gospel singer went viral as the world followed the military escalation in the Middle East, but in Brazil the organization that Valadão designed is experiencing a different kind of uproar.In recent months Lagoinha has been mentioned in the news about the federal police's Operation Compliance Zero, which is investigating suspicions linked to Banco Master controlled by Daniel Vorcaro.
The banker's sister, Natália Vocaro Zettel, is a pastor at the church.Her husband, Fabiano Zettel, also a pastor and Vocaro's son-in-law, was temporarily arrested as part of the operation and later released.Lagoinha denies any involvement in the irregularities and claims that the relationship with Vocaro is of a religious nature, not business.
However, the Varcoro family financially supported the Red Super TV under Lagoinha.Daniel Varcoro himself presented a church-affiliated television program in his youth.
As I show in the priest, banker and church column, the expansion of Lagoinha combines religion and power.
Fabiano Zettel foi um dos maiores doadores nas eleições de 2022: destinou 3 milhões de reais à campanha de Jair Bolsonaro e 2 milhões à de Tarcísio de Freitas, segundo dados do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral. As doações foram legais e declaradas, mas ajudam a dimensionar a mistura entre dinheiro, religião e política.
Here is Johann Eller's report, which will be published this Tuesday in Malu Gaspar's O Globo column.Federal MP Nicolas Ferreira (PL-MG) participated in the Juventude pelo Brasil second round 2022 caravan with a plane registered to Prime You, a Vorcaro partner, the report revealed.Next to Nicholas was priest Guillerme Batista from Lagoinha.
Road reconstruction work was carried out using transponder signals and common timed intersections.The flight passed through the strategic cities of Northeast, Brazil's capital and Minas Gerais between October 20 and 28, 2022.
The company responsible for operating the airline said the flights were chartered in accordance with air taxi laws and did not say who made the contract, citing confidentiality.Vorcaro's defense argued that the plane was not personally owned by the bank, even though he was a partner in the company he owned at the time.
Nicholas confirmed that he had flown.He said he did not know the owner of the plane and had "no personal, business or professional relationship" with Vorcaro.He said there is no room for doubt in 2022.
It should be noted that Nikolas was not a member of Lagoinha.He attended a church led by his father, also priest Edésio de Oliveira, in Belo Horizonte, but with a smaller site, with a single headquarters.
As I have argued in another column in , the religious milieu that produced the MP combines rigid moral discourse and political formation.However, the worlds of these two churches even touched from different structures in the 2022 campaign aboard a plane connected to an investigated banker.
Nothing reported here is illegal by definition.Family ties are not a corporate crime.Informed donations are not illegal.Traveling on chartered jets is not illegal.But the collection reveals how faith, money and politics are intertwined in Brazil.
The story constructed by Ana Paula Valadão presents famous heroes and villains, war is transformed into a symbol of spiritual freedom.In reports and investigations that bring Lagoinha and Caso Master closer to family relationships and intimate relationships, the glorification of external conflict helps shift the debate.
Only when Lagoinha appeared in the news for his relationship with the investigated bank did his most famous priest raise the tone of a distant war.Smoke rising in the Middle East helped change the subject.However, it does not eliminate what still needs to be explained at home.
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