New Research Report on Valdir Ros – Pedro II: The Pope of Nova Iguaçu, Brazil

In 1968, Brazilian priest Valdir Ros (1942–1994) founded the Instituto Estrela Missionária (IEM; the Institute of the Missionary Star) in Urubici in his home diocese of Lages in the southern part of the country. It was an organization devoted to promoting mission among non-Christians and providing education for future missionaries. The same year, he moved to the diocese of Nova Iguaçu in the Baixada Fluminense, part of the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan era, where he also became a pastor of the impoverished parish of Riachão. The seminar was founded with the support of the diocesan bishop. Still, the IEM had an unclear canonical status for a long time, but in 1977, it received the status of a diocesan pious association (pia unio). However, that was nothing compared to Ros’ vision: to form a Latin American congregation that would contribute to world mission, not a group devoted to local parish work.

Though the relation had not been unproblematic before, in late 1979, an irreconcilable conflict grew between Valdir Ros and the bishop of Nova Iguaçu Adriano Hypólito OFM (1918–1996). There were several reasons: political,  religious, personal–and medical. In conversations, private letters, printed books, and pamphlets, Ros fiercely attacked the bishop, accusing him of being a Jew, a Communist, a Freemason–and a demon. When the conflict reached one of its many peaks in 1981, members of the IEM, too, regarded Ros as severely ill, and he was confined to a psychiatric clinic against his will. By this time, he was replaced as the parish priest in Riachão, and IEM soon left the diocese to move to another part of the country.

Still, after ousting most of the priests and seminarians of the IEM in early 1982, Ros returned to Nova Iguaçu with a small group of followers. He had no right to minister in the diocese. Still, Ros regarded himself as the rightful pastor of Riachão and administered sacraments. Thus, he continued his pastoral work among his supporters there and in neighboring areas, constantly clashing with the bishop, the diocesan clergy, and most parishioners. Defying the bishop, Ros also re-established the IEM in Nova Iguaçu. He regarded the institute as a faithful remnant that served as a bulwark against what he saw as the judeo-masonic-communist organization that called itself the Catholic Church but constituted a new religion. Its local leader, Bishop Adriano Hypólito, was looked upon as the “Great Whore of the Apocalypse.”

Ros’ return to Nova Iguaçu led to an even deeper conflict. By mid-1982, the diocese organized a rally against Ros, the so-called Celebration of Unity. Several bishops, the entire diocesan clergy, and thousands of laypeople went to Riachão, where a Mass was celebrated. It was a demonstration of church unity against Ros and his followers, who, not surprisingly, protested.

Ros’ harsh denunciations were not only directed to his nemesis, the local bishop and the Brazilian episcopate at large, but also against Vatican II and the conciliar and post-conciliar popes: John XXIII (sed. 1958–1963), Paul VI (sed. 1963–1978), John Paul I (sed. 1978), and John Paul II (sed. 1978–2005). He saw them as heretics, having an increasingly “precarious jurisdiction,” though they were still popes in some way. Thus, Ros did not subscribe to a sedevacantist position, i.e., the claim that the Holy See was empty due to the conciliar popes’ heresies.

Still, at last, Ros concluded that John Paul II had lost all jurisdiction, and by 1985, he would publicly claim the papacy, assuming the name Peter II. He would uphold this claim until he passed away in 1994. Ros has no papal successor but still counts on a small group of adherents, mainly in the Riachão area.

The report Valdir Ros-Pedro II: The Pope of Nova Iguaçu, Brazil is found here: