This recognition is made through a new law, enacted by the acting president of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo.
Photo: Luciney Martins/O SÃO PAULO
Newsroom (08/11/2021 11:30 AM, Gaudium Press) Last week, the acting president of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, Deputy Wellington Moura, enacted the law that recognizes religious activities as an essential activity in times of pandemic.
Article 1 of law 17,434, “the state of São Paulo recognizes religious activities held in their respective places of worship, and outside them, as an essential activity to be maintained in times of crises arising from contagious diseases, epidemics, pandemics, or natural disasters”.
New law does not disoblige believers to follow sanitary protocols
Deputy Gilmaci Santos said through a video that “this law says that churches, religious places of worship, are indeed essential services in the state. From now on, the churches, our places of worship, can no longer be closed, even if there is a pandemic or any catastrophe“.
It is important to note that in Article 1 of Law 17.434 it is stated that for its application “the recommendations issued by the Ministry of Health should be observed”. In other words, this new legislation does not exempt those who participate in religious activities from following the health protocols established by the health authorities.
Practical effect of this new law
The approval of this law has the practical effect of preventing places of worship from being closed or religious activities from being restricted within the entire state of São Paulo during the current Covid-19 pandemic, even if there is a worsening in the number of cases, hospitalizations, or deaths.
The new law comes from the bill (PL) 299/2020, authored by state deputies Gil Diniz and Gilmaci Santos , which had been approved by the plenary of the Legislative Assembly in December 2020, but was vetoed in late February this year by Governor João Doria, a veto that was overturned on October 26 by the plenary of the Legislative Assembly.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan