Divaldo Franco
{{Short description|Brazilian spiritualist (1927–2025)}}
{{Portuguese name|Pereira|Franco}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Divaldo Franco
| image = Divaldofranco.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| birth_name = Divaldo Pereira Franco
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|05|05}}
| birth_place = Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|05|13|1927|05|05}}
| death_place = Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| occupation = Medium
| website =
}}
{{Paranormal}}
Divaldo Pereira Franco (May 5, 1927 – May 13, 2025) was a Brazilian spiritist speaker and medium.{{cite journal |year=2006 |title=The Spiritist Review (English Edition) |url=http://www.spiritist.org/thespiritistreview/review02.pdf |journal=The Spiristist Institute |issue=2 |page=7 |accessdate=January 4, 2009}}
|author1 = Leão, F.C.
|author2 = Lotufo Neto, F.
|title = Rev. Psiq. Clín. 34, supl 1; 23–28, 2007
|year = 2007
|url = http://www.hcnet.usp.br/ipq/revista/vol34/s1/en/23.html
|accessdate = January 4, 2009
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081027114000/http://www.hcnet.usp.br/ipq/revista/vol34/s1/en/23.html
|archivedate = October 27, 2008
}}
|author=Globo-Salgusa
|title=Evento espírita reúne 15 mil na Imigrantes
|date=April 2007
|url=http://oglobo.globo.com/sp/mat/2007/04/21/295459348.asp
|accessdate=January 4, 2009}} In 1952, he founded the charity Mansão do Caminho in Salvador, Bahia, which serves and shelters thousands of people,{{Cite web |title=Quem somos |url=https://mansaodocaminho.com.br/quem-somos/#:~:text=Nos%20dias%20atuais,%20a%20Mans%C3%A3o,aux%C3%ADlio%20material,%20educacional%20e%20espiritual. |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Mansão do Caminho |language=pt-BR}} hundreds of whom are registered as children of the medium.{{Cite web |last=Fortuna' |first='Deborah |date=October 7, 2017 |title=Médium Divaldo Franco é homenageado por dedicar vida às crianças |url=https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/cidades/2017/10/07/interna_cidadesdf,632072/medium-divaldo-franco-e-homenageado-pela-cldf-por-dedicar-vida-as-cria.shtml |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Acervo |language=pt-BR}} The copyrights of his psychographed books were donated to this and other philanthropic institutions.{{Cite journal |last=Arribas |first=Célia da Graça |date=May 6, 2019 |title=O sexo dos espíritos: gênero e sexualidade no espiritismo |url=https://www.revistas.usp.br/revusp/article/view/157776 |journal=Revista USP |language=pt |issue=121 |pages=97–108 |doi=10.11606/issn.2316-9036.v0i121p97-108 |issn=2316-9036|doi-access=free }} He was nicknamed the "Paul of Tarsus of spiritism" for his work in spreading the spiritist doctrine.{{Cite journal |last=Lewgoy |first=Bernardo |date=July 2008 |title=A transnacionalização do espiritismo kardecista brasileiro: uma discussão inicial |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/rs/a/47BDMf6WkxTch9XK898QRYv/abstract/?lang=pt |journal=Religião & Sociedade |language=pt |volume=28 |pages=84–104 |doi=10.1590/S0100-85872008000100005 |issn=1984-0438|hdl=10183/178433 |hdl-access=free }}
Biography
Divaldo Pereira Franco was born on May 5, 1927, in Feira de Santana, Bahia.{{cite web | title=Divaldo Franco | website=US Spiritist Federation | date=15 December 2020 | url=https://spiritist.us/divaldo-franco/ | access-date=14 May 2025}} Since he was a child, he already showed signs of mediumship, being reprimanded by his father and older brothers, who considered it to be something demonic.{{Cite web |title=Divaldo Franco |url=https://mansaodocaminho.com.br/divaldo-franco/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Mansão do Caminho |language=pt-BR}} He managed to convince his mother when he reported that he saw the spirit of his deceased grandmother to his aunt. His sister Nair committed suicide in 1939, and he saw his sister's spirit begging for help. Her spirit reincarnated as the daughter of a poor woman who came to the Mansão do Caminho, in fragile health, was taken in by her brother and died as a child.
Divaldo Franco was introduced to the Spiritist doctrine when he was supposedly cured of paralysis by a medium. The medium identified his strong mediumship and, under her influence, moved to Salvador in 1945. In this city he founded the Centro Espírita Caminho da Redenção, which would become the Mansão do Caminho ("Mansion of the Way") in 1952.{{Cite web |date=September 19, 2019 |title=Divaldo Pereira Franco |url=https://www.feesp.com.br/divaldo-pereira-franco/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=FEESP |language=pt-BR}}
A large part of her psychographed works are attributed to a spirit called Joanna de Ângelis, who, according to Divaldo, lived as Joanna, wife of Chusa, Clare of Assisi, Juana Inés de la Cruz and Joana Angélica.{{Cite web |date=March 6, 2021 |title=As inúmeras encarnações de Joanna de Ângelis |url=https://correio.news/especial/as-inumeras-encarnacoes-de-joanna-de-angelis |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Correio.news |language=pt-BR}}{{Cite web |title=Portal Luz Espírita |url=https://www.luzespirita.org.br/index.php?lisPage=enciclopedia&item=Joanna%20de%20%C3%82ngelis |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=www.luzespirita.org.br}} In 1964, Joanna de Ângelis selected several of her messages and compiled them into a book, which received the suggestive title Messe de Amor ("Harvest of Love").{{Cite book |last1=Médium) |first1=Divaldo Pereira Franco ( |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Rmq0AEACAAJ |title=Messe de amor - 60 anos |last2=Ângelis (Espírito) |first2=Joanna de |date=May 5, 2024 |publisher=Leal |isbn=978-65-86256-33-8 |language=pt}} It was the first book that Divaldo Franco published. In his more than 250 published books, 211 alleged spiritual authors are presented, in addition to {{ill|Joanna de Ângelis|pt}}, among them, Victor Hugo, Rabindranath Tagore, and Bezerra de Menezes.{{Cite web |title=Espíritos Psicografados |url=https://mansaodocaminho.com.br/divaldo-franco/espiritos-psicografados/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Mansão do Caminho |language=pt-BR}} The books encompass a wide variety of literary studies in prose, novels and narratives, covering philosophical, doctrinal, historical, children's, psychological and psychiatric themes.
He was awarded the Order of Rio Branco in 2022{{Cite web |date=February 16, 2023 |title=VÍDEO: Médium Divaldo Franco dá declaração chocante sobre terroristas bolsonaristas |url=https://revistaforum.com.br/brasil/2023/2/16/video-medium-divaldo-franco-da-declarao-chocante-sobre-terroristas-bolsonaristas-131554.html |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Revista Fórum |language=pt-BR}} and was criticized by part of the spiritist movement for his approach to Jair Bolsonaro and his criticism of gender ideology, calling it a "social hallucination created by cultural Marxism to enslave society".{{Cite web |last=Boletim |first=Redação |date=February 18, 2018 |title=Médium Divaldo Franco discursa contra ideologia de gênero e marxismo |url=https://www.boletimdaliberdade.com.br/2018/02/18/medium-divaldo-franco-discursa-contra-ideologia-de-genero-e-marxismo/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Boletim da Liberdade |language=pt-BR}}{{Cite web |last=EàE |first=Redação |date=April 12, 2022 |title=Divaldo, o médium decaído |url=https://espiritasaesquerda.com.br/divaldo-o-medium-decaido/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Espíritas à Esquerda |language=pt-BR}} However, he was defended by spiritist leaders and scholars, who stated that the medium has the right to express himself as he wishes, without this characterizing the exclusive vision of the doctrine of the spirits.{{Cite web |last=Manhã |first=Diario da |date=February 16, 2018 |title=Divaldo Franco defende Sérgio Moro e critica política de submissão social {{!}} Diario da Manhã |url=https://www.dm.com.br/politica-3/2018/02/divaldo-franco-defende-sergio-moro-e-critica-politica-de-submissao-social |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Diário da Manhã |language=pt-br}}{{Cite journal |last=Arribas |first=Célia da Graça |date=May 6, 2019 |title=O sexo dos espíritos: gênero e sexualidade no espiritismo |url=https://www.revistas.usp.br/revusp/article/view/157776 |journal=Revista USP |language=pt |issue=121 |pages=97–108 |doi=10.11606/issn.2316-9036.v0i121p97-108 |issn=2316-9036|doi-access=free }}
He was portrayed by Bruno Garcia and Ghilherme Lobo in the 2019 Brazilian biographical film Divaldo: O Mensageiro da Paz.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/entretenimento/divaldo-o-mensageiro-da-paz-conheca-o-filme-sobre-divaldo-franco/ |title= “Divaldo: O Mensageiro da Paz”: conheça o filme sobre Divaldo Franco |date=May 14, 2025 |website=CNN Brazil |access-date=May 14, 2025 | language=pt-BR}}
Franco died on May 13, 2025, in Salvador, at the age of 98, from multiple organ failure. He had been battling bladder cancer since November 2024.{{Cite web |date=May 14, 2025 |title=Morre Divaldo Franco, um dos principais líderes espíritas do Brasil, aos 98 anos |url=https://www.itatiaia.com.br/brasil/2025/05/13/morre-divaldo-franco-um-dos-principais-lideres-espiritas-do-brasil-aos-98-anos |access-date=May 14, 2025 |website=Rádio Itatiaia |language=pt-BR}}{{Cite web |date=May 13, 2025 |title=Morre Divaldo Franco, um dos principais líderes espíritas do país |url=https://g1.globo.com/ba/bahia/noticia/2025/05/13/morre-divaldo-franco-um-dos-principais-lideres-espiritas-do-brasil.ghtml |access-date=May 14, 2025 |website=G1 |language=pt-br}}
Books about Divaldo
- "Divaldo, médium ou gênio?" – by journalist Fernando Pinto, 1976, 160 pages;
- "Moldando o Terceiro Milênio – Life and work of Divaldo Pereira Franco" – By journalist Fernando Worm;
- "O Semeador de Estrelas" – By Suely Caldas Schubert – Stories about Divaldo's life;
- "Viagens e entrevistas" – By Yvon Luz – Different interviews with Divaldo.
Books by Divaldo translated to English
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=cxEp0AEACAAJ Child of God] (1986; {{ISBN|9781953672827}}, {{OL|49786298M}})
- Recipes for Peace (1996)
- Self-Discovery: An Inner Search (2005)
- Living and Loving (Audio CD – 2005)
- The Dynamics of Our Sixth Sense (2006)
- Obsession (1979)
- I Love Myself, I Am Addiction-free: Spiritual Tools to Fight Addiction (2005)
- The New Generation: The Spiritist View on Indigo and Crystal Children with Vanessa Anseloni (2007)
- Open Your Heart and Find Happiness (2006)
- Therapeutic Visualizations (Audio CD – 2005)
- Understanding Spiritual and Mental Health (2005)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name| 6713005}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131102020717/http://www.divaldofranco.net/ Divaldo Franco – English Bio]
- [http://www.mansionoftheway.com Mansion of the Way] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022105248/http://mansionoftheway.com/ |date=October 22, 2013 }}
- [http://www.peaceandyou.net Peace and You Movement by Divaldo Franco] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020212106/http://peaceandyou.net/ |date=October 20, 2011 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Divaldo}}
Category:People from Feira de Santana