Dadeus Grings

The Most Reverend

Dadeus Grings
Archbishop of Porto Alegre
SeePorto Alegre
Installed12 April 2000
Term ended18 September 2013
PredecessorAltamiro Rossato
SuccessorJaime Spengler
Other postBishop of São João da Boa Vista (1991–2000)
Orders
Ordination23 December 1961
by Antonio Samorè
Consecration15 March 1991
by Tomás Vaquero, Alfredo Vicente Scherer and Aloísio Sinésio Bohn
Personal details
Born(1936-09-07)7 September 1936
Nova Petrópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Died21 September 2026(2026-09-21) (aged 90)
Gravataí, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
DenominationRoman Catholic
EducationPontifical Gregorian University

Dadeus Grings (7 September 1936 – 21 September 2026) was a Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Porto Alegre. He also served as the chancellor of the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Life and career

Grings was born on 7 September 1936 in Nova Petrópolis, Rio Grande do Sul.

He was ordained as a priest on 23 December 1961. He was appointed Bishop of São João da Boa Vista on 23 January 1991. He was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Porto Alegre on 12 April 2000, and succeeded to the position of archbishop on acceptance of the resignation of his predecessor, Archbishop Altamiro Rossato C.Ss.R. on 7 February 2001. He was succeeded on 18 September 2013 by Archbishop Jaime Spengler.

He was the author of 27 books.

Grings died in Gravatal, Rio Grande do Sul, on 21 September 2026 at the age of 90.

Controversial comments on paedophilia

International controversy occurred in response to comments about paedophilia made by Grings on 4 May 2010. Speaking about accusations of paedophilia against priests, he said that society as a whole is paedophilic and that the sexual abuse of children and adolescents is more common among doctors, teachers and businessmen than among priests. The problem, he said, is that today's society is paedophilic, with the result that people easily fall into it. He said that its being denounced is a good sign and that all forms of sexuality were being banalized and that the acquisition of legal rights by homosexuals was likely to lead to recognition of the rights of paedophiles. Grings stated clearly that the sexual abuse of children and adolescents is a crime and should be punished but, he admitted, that while the church does adopt internal measures against the guilty, it finds it difficult to denounce its own members to the police. It is unjust, he said, to present paedophilia as a matter that concerns only the church when in Germany it had been found that only 0.2% of child abuse was committed by priests. He also said that homosexuality is innate in few cases and generally results from failure to overcome an adolescent experimental stage. A spokesman for the bishops conference distanced himself from Grings' remark that society as a whole is paedophile, while English-language reports misinterpreted his admission that the church finds it difficult to denounce priests to the police as if he had said that "internal punishment of priests guilty of abuse was sufficient and that police should not be involved".

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, Brazil ... Ordinaries". GCatholic. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  2. ↑
    1. Lógica Formal (1973)
    2. Nosso Deus Pai, Filho e Espírito Santo (1974)
    3. A Força de Deus na fraqueza do homem (1975)
    4. Vitalidade do Cristianismo no século XX (1978)
    5. Solidarismo, a sociedade do futuro (1978)
    6. O Deus Brasileiro (1979)
    7. Para que viver? (1981)
    8. Dialética da Vida Consagrada: História Dialética do Cristianismo (1981)
    9. Religião e Cristianismo (1982, collaborative work)
    10. Feliz para sempre (1984)
    11. Conhecer a Verdade (1985)
    12. A Ortopráxis da Igreja (1985)
    13. A Ortodoxia Cristã (1986)
    14. A descoberta científica de Deus (1990)
    15. O homem diante do universo (1995)
    16. Deus Pai (1999)
    17. Creio na Santíssima Trindade: Jubileu do ano 2000 (1999)
    18. Casamento, amor e sexo (2000)
    19. A Boa Nova Bíblica - ontem, hoje e sempre (2001)
    20. Mateus, o Evangelista da Felicidade (2002)
    21. A vida humana plena (2003)
    22. Sociedade do Futuro: entre o limite e a esperança (2003)
    23. A Evangelização da Cidade: O Apostolado Urbano (2004)
    24. Meu colóquio com Deus I: A teologia dogmática orante (2004)
    25. Meu colóquio com Deus II: A teologia moral rezada (2006)
    26. Meu colóquio com Deus III: Liturgia (2008)
    27. Promoção Humana (2009)
  3. ↑ Obituary Vatican News
  4. 1 2 O Imparcial (São Paulo): "Arcebispo dom Dadeus Grings afirma: 'A sociedade atual é pedófila'"[permanent dead link]
  5. ↑ "Brazilian archbishop: all teenagers are 'spontaneously homosexual'", The Telegraph (London).