Extremist and violent, heralds of the gospel have their schools closed by the Pope.

As soon as I returned to live in BrazilAfter six years in Italy, I was invited by a friend to visit a medieval castle in the Serra da Cantareira, in São Paulo, founded by a Catholic group in the heart of the forest—a castle that I would only discover hours later had been founded by the ultraconservative Heralds of the Gospel, a Catholic association born from the conflict between the leaders of the extremist group TFP, or Tradition, Family and Property.

The castle, on that stormy autumn afternoon, immediately reminded me of the Crusades, the invasions, attacks, robberies, and murders of thousands of Palestinian Muslims, initiated by us Christians in Jerusalem, Palestine. The military uniforms of the children present, the shouts, and the medieval atmosphere were as frightening to me as the stories and testimonies I discovered and heard, as a journalist, in the following years, recounted by the parents of the young people and children who studied there.

Mothers from humble or middle-class backgrounds were delighted by the possibility of their children studying for free in a castle, wearing medieval uniforms, learning Catholic principles, and living under military discipline.

What seemed like a dream for them turned into one of the biggest nightmares in the history of Catholic education in Brazil, with the leaders of the "school" now accused of violence, psychological abuse, parental alienation, incitement of religious intolerance, and sexual abuse. The Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo has already accepted more than fifty complaints, four of them involving sexual and moral abuse. Videos already broadcast in the mainstream media prove a series of moral abuses, disrespect for the families of some students, an extremely violent military discipline, and even a video in which the founder of the extremist Catholic group, Monsignor João Clá Dias, a former member of the TFP, insults Pope Francis with very harsh words and simulates a pathetic dialogue with the Devil, as if Satan himself were there and affirmed that Francis obeys his orders, while the extremist Bolsonaro supporter João Clá Dias would be God's envoy to that community.

The cases involving young former students are extremely serious, ranging from physical punishments imposed by Monsignor João Clá to abuses perpetrated by other members and the death of a girl who, according to her parents, committed suicide within the institution.

As more testimonies emerge against the extremist Catholic group, the Heralds of the Gospel are escalating their attacks against Pope Francis, the parents who obtained the legal right to rescue their children from the castles where they all lived in a boarding school setting without the right to visit their parents frequently, and the more humane and progressive wing of the Catholic Church throughout Latin America, where the group has been establishing its schools since 1997.

Faced with numerous testimonies about the abuses, videos, and evidence that students were not even allowed to have telephone contact with their parents, Pope Francis ordered the closure of all schools founded by the extremist group in various cities around the world and appointed Bishop Raimundo Damasceno as the interventor for the Heralds of the Gospel, while investigations by the authorities and the Vatican continue.

Brazilians are mistaken if they believe that only evangelical Christians have religious leaders who foster intolerance, hatred, Islamophobia, and racism in general.

Hatred, the eldest child of ignorance, has been fueled by Christian extremists of various denominations, including my own Catholic Church, and has catapulted us into the medieval circles of Hell described by Dante.

The attacks by Monsignor João Clá Dias, in his false dialogue with the Devil, only confirm that one of the greatest targets of the current Torquemadas has been one of the most enlightened of all men who have ever occupied the pontificate in Rome and the throne of Peter. Francis, the man who washed the feet of a group of homeless people and welcomed them to the Vatican, the man who exchanged the luxurious "sedia gestatoria" for a chair of immense simplicity upon assuming his pontificate, the man who surprised the world by wearing a crucifix of Franciscan simplicity, the man who asks that the Church be the spokesperson for tolerance, for welcoming refugees and for dialogue between religions, the man who asks Catholics for less judgment and more empathy for the pain of others, the man who has fought for the rights of war refugees, of black people, and of all the excluded, the man whom I had the honor of meeting at the press conference during World Youth Day in 2013 here in Rio de Janeiro, has been the target of attacks perpetrated by the most abominable religious figures in my Catholic Church, men of the most mercenary far-right, subservient to the interests of Israeli Apartheid and to principles furthest from the message of Christ imaginable. I lived in Rome for six years, wrote articles about the Vatican for Folha de São Paulo, and also wrote a book of investigative journalism, "When Dawn Breaks in Sicily," in which I recount the historical relationship between far-right priests and bishops in Rome, the Cosa Nostra mafiosi, and the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, assassinated inside the Vatican in 1978, who held the papacy for only 33 days.

I sadly witnessed in the 2000s how Catholics in Rome and São Paulo act when promoting religious hatred, the murder of Muslims in Europe, and denialism that kills. The perpetrators of the attacks on Pope Francis, people like Monsignor João Clá Dias, the Italian Carlo Maria Viganò, the American Burke, and the Brazilian Olavo de Carvalho, represent the most inhumane, repugnant, and hypocritical elements within contemporary Catholicism.

Men like the founder of the "Heralds of the Gospel," João Clá Dias, indoctrinate teenagers to hate the poor, progressives, and black people; they teach them to hate what is most human in Christ's legacy: love and empathy for the most vulnerable, for those who are different, for those of other religions, for immigrants, and for those who live on the margins of society.

Christian extremists claim that Francis has been "too tolerant of homosexuals in the world," or that he has been "too conciliatory on the issue of Muslim refugees."

They are simply hypocrites who have never wondered which side Jesus would be on today.

Cardinals, priests, lay people, and ultraconservative Catholic monsignors have found ample support in false "Christians" like Olavo de Carvalho, the individual who went so far as to excommunicate Francis, without any authority to do so, provoking only bovine subservience from his followers or contempt from those who have decided to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

As a practicing Catholic, I express my immense disgust for hypocritical and evil Christians like the founder of the "Heralds of the Gospel" group, and my immense solidarity and empathy with Pope Francis.