Mayo-born 'Rosary priest' helped CIA bring about 1964 coup in Brazil

‘Rosary is the offensive weapon that will destroy Communism’ – Fr Patrick Peyton
58 minutes ago
Patsy McGarry

The prominent Irish “Rosary priest”, Fr Patrick Peyton, accepted funding from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help bring about a 1964 military coup in Brazil, according to a documentary broadcast on Wednesday night.

Guns & Rosaries, narrated by the actor Martin Sheen, dealt with Co Mayo-born Fr Peyton, who built up a huge following in the US from the mid-1940s with his slogan “the family that prays together stays together”.

He was very conscious of the political element to his Family Rosary Crusade, proclaiming that “the Rosary is the offensive weapon that will destroy communism – the great evil that seeks to destroy the faith”.

The programme, broadcast on RTÉ One, showed that as communism was perceived to be spreading to Latin America, then-US vice-president Richard Nixon hosted a meeting at the White House where a CIA covert plan was authorised to use Fr Peyton’s Family Rosary Crusade to help fight Communism in Latin America.

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https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/mayo-born-rosary-priest-helped-cia-bring-about-1964-coup-in-brazil-1.3833013