The founder of the spiritual community “Heralds of the Gospel”, Joao Scognamiglio Cla Dias, is dead. The former Superior General died on All Saints’ Day at the age of 85 in Franco da Rocha, Brazil, his community announced. The cause of death is said to be the consequences of a stroke he suffered 14 years ago.

Cla Dias was Superior General of the “Heralds of the Gospel” until his resignation in 2017. In the same year, the Vatican ordered an investigation into the community after former members reported abuses. The apostolic visitation found, among other things, deficiencies in the leadership of the community and financial irregularities. Pope Francis then appointed the former Archbishop of Aparecida, Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, as provisional head of the community. Due to alleged formal errors, the heralds did not want to recognize the appointment of the provisional leader.

Brief presence in Germany

Cla Dias founded the Heralds of the Gospel in Brazil in 1999, and the spiritual community was recognized by Pope John Paul II in 2001. A male and a female branch of the order emerged from the community. One of the community’s priorities is to seek new ways of proclaiming the Gospel, as well as Marian devotion in close connection with the Marian apparitions of Fatima. They also dedicate themselves to church music. Their religious garb resembles medieval military uniforms. In Germany, the Heralds were active for a short time in the diocese of Regensburg in the early 2000s.

The community has its roots in the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Private Property, a conservative Catholic organization that opposed the theology of liberation, among other things. In internal conflicts within the society, Cla Dias belonged to the wing that wanted to be less socio-political and more religiously committed. (KNA)