Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says religious freedom provides the architecture diverse societies need to be healthy. He spoke at a religious freedom symposium in Rio de Janeiro.
The Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple is a beacon for life, said Elder Ulisses Soares of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The apostle is showing the temple to Cardinal Orani Tempesta, the archbishop of Rio, and other Brazilian religious leaders during the temple open house.
SAO PAULO: In 2013, Brazil began to issue a special humanitarian visa for Syrian refugees. That year, the South American country’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 2.3 percent, and the unemployment rate reached its lowest level in more than a decade. Now, however, the 3,800 Syrian refugees who live in Brazil are facing terrible economic conditions.
The country’s GDP fell 4.1 percent in 2020 and the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world, with at least 13.5 percent of Brazilians out of the job market. And with 390,000 fatalities, Brazil has the second-highest number of deaths from COVID-19 in the world.
There is no solution in sight given that President Jair Bolsonaro has always refused to federally impose social-distancing measures, and has failed to secure enough vaccine doses for the population.