LULA NÃO FECHE MINHA IGREJA: The story behind this trend in Social Media today
09-10-2026
The phrase “LULA NÃO FECHE MINHA IGREJA” spread on Brazilian social media on October 8, 2026, as a reaction to a disputed old post attributed to Ana Elisa Santos Silva, the 21-year-old PT candidate just elected federal deputy for Minas Gerais with more than 524,000 votes (second place in the state and the youngest federal deputy elected there).Opponents, including the top-voted deputy in the state, circulated a screenshot said to be from October 2, 2022, in which she allegedly wrote that Lula should close the churches because “esses crente só faz merda.” The image was paired with the slogan as a form of protest. Ana Elisa has denied the post, called the screenshot a montage, and said she would take the matter to the electoral court as fake news and seek to challenge the diploma of those spreading it. Reports note that the original message has not been independently located in public archives and that its authenticity remains unconfirmed.The episode revives a claim that has circulated since the 2022 presidential campaign: that Lula or his allies intend to shut churches. Fact-checks at the time found the versions then circulating (edited video clips and fabricated posts about closing churches that refused same-sex weddings) to be false or stripped of context. Lula has repeatedly stated he will not close churches, has described himself as Catholic, and during his earlier presidencies signed measures that gave religious organizations legal personality and created national days linked to evangelical events. Brazilian law also treats arbitrary closure of places of worship as unconstitutional outside narrow administrative or safety grounds.The current slogan is therefore a political reaction to the contested 2022 screenshot involving the newly elected PT deputy, not a response to any announced government plan to close churches.