With his arms extended on Rio de Janeiro, the Christ Redeemer is more than a tourist attraction that attracts millions of visitors every year: it is the world’s largest outdoor sanctuary, the scene of masses, weddings, baptisms and pilgrimages.
Built in 1931 with funds from the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, the monument has been administered by the Catholic Church since its inauguration.
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Currently, the Sanctuary of Christ Redeemer faces a legal dispute with the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBIO), administrator of the Tijuca National Park, where the monument is located.
The legal dispute
The ICMBIO filed a demand for recovery against vendors who have occupied commercial spaces on the stairs to the monument for decades, many of which have signed agreements with the archdiocese. Although it is not a defendant in demand, the archdiocese opposes, defending their rights in adjacent spaces and supporting merchants.
On June 23, 2025, the 21st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro decided that the area where the Christ Redeemer is belonging to the Union and ordered the restitution of the possession of the surrounding commercial points in favor of the ICMBIO.
The reaction in the press and social networks to the judicial judgment generated confusion about the property and administration of the Archdiocesan Sanctuary of Christ the Redeemer.
In response, the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro published a statement on August 14 clarifying that “the current legal procedures do not affect the monument of Christ the Redeemer, the plateau or the chapel of Our Lady of Appeared. All remain under the property of the Archbishop’s miter of Rio de Janeiro.”
In the statement, the Archdiocese reaffirms its responsibility for the sanctuary and says that it is the “only institutional authority legitimately constituted to express an opinion on its use, management and preservation”.
The Redeemer is sacred
“The Brazilian people need to be certain that the monument of Christ the Redeemer is sacred,” says Father Omar Raposo, rector of the sanctuary, in a video sent to ACI Digital and the Catholic press.
“Today, we have an average of 1100 baptisms, more than 200 weddings a year and daily masses. People from all over the world go there to pray, pilgrimage and contemplate nature. Thus, the Christ Redeemer becomes, more than ever, in a place of prayer and contemplation.”
The Redeemer Christ: Conceived and care for the Catholic Church
The origins of the monument date back to the nineteenth century, with Princess Isabel, known as the Redeemer for signing the golden law, which ended slavery in the country in 1888.
A group of people requested authorization to raise funds to erect a statue of his at the top of Cerro Corcovado, visible from what was then the entire city of Rio de Janeiro.
The Imperial Princess authorized the project, but she wanted an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the true Redeemer of Humanity to be erected instead.
The proposal was welcomed by the Church, and the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro raised donations from the faithful to place the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with open arms at the top of the Corcovado hill.
The project was designed by the engineer Carioca Heitor Da Silva Costa in 1923. The statue measures 30 meters high, plus an eight -meter pedestal. Open arms measure 28 meters wide.
At the inauguration, on October 12, 1931, Archbishop Sebastião Leme said: “Christ he expires, Christ Queen, Christ commands. Christ Redeemer will free Brazil from all his ills.”
Since then, the monument has been taken care of by the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, committed to its spiritual, cultural and environmental dimensions.
“Over the years,” says Fr. Omar in the video, “the Christ Redeemer has always been careful for the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, designed by her. This administration has closely monitored the tourist flow, respect for the environment and has sought that hospitality is always a distinctive seal, a sanctuary and a monument that receives Christ with open arms.”
The Christ Redeemer is a National Historical and Artistic Heritage (iPhan) since 1973 and was chosen in 2007 as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
A bill seeks to redefine the limits of the National Park
Bill 3490/2024by Senator Carlos Portinho (PL/RJ), is in process in the Senate and proposes to exclude the area of Alto Do Corcovado from the limits of the Tijuca National Park.
The project of the project emphasizes that the presence of the Church at the top of the Corcovado is prior to the creation of environmental agencies. The Tijuca National Park was created in 1961, 30 years after the end of the monument, and the Icmbio was created in 2007, 76 years after the inauguration of Christ the Redeemer.
The text also emphasizes that “the area where the monument is located was ceded by the union to the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro for the construction of the Sanctuary of the Redeemer” and that due to the creation of the Conservation Unit, “the Archbishop had its relativized authority to the point of needing to request formal authorization prior to the managing authority of the Park to be able to access the Redeemer Christ.”
To solve the problem, the project proposes the exclusion of a fraction of 6,771.73 square meters of the park, less than 0.02 % of the total area of the Tijuca forest, which has a total of 39 million square meters.
“In this way,” says the text, “the Archbishop’s miter of Rio de Janeiro will have the freedom to administer the complex without the bureaucratic obstacles that the management of a fully protected conservation unit entails.”
According to the text, it is a mostly urbanized area, without native vegetation and with intense tourist and religious use, so there will be no harm for the conservation of biodiversity.
Popular petition supports the bill in favor of Christ the Redeemer
The National Network in Defense of Life and the Family has initiated a request in the Citizengo platform asking the senators to vote urgently about the bill 3490, to ensure that “the Christ Redeemer continues to be careful by those who built it and preserved it to this day – the Church – and protected from uses that can disrespect their nature as a sanctuary.”
For Father Omar, “these mobilizations, which are natural and spontaneous, show how the Brazilian people admire, love and want to take care of Christ Redeemer, his monument, which is a Brazilian heritage, of all of us, built by the Church, with the resources of the faithful, and who have open arms to receive so much support, in addition to blessing us all.”
The governance of the sanctuary, says the priest “seeks to integrate all the interests: from the fluidity of the tourist, cultural and religious operations of the sanctuary” to the “social and environmental perspective”, because “the look of the redemptor communicates peace.”
“Among so many objectives and interests – – the rector of the sanctuary concludes – the Christ Redeemer will always be victorious.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in Aci digital
Nathália Queiroz
I have been writing for ACI Digital for eight years and since 2023 I am a correspondent in Brazil of the news Ewtn News. I am certified in Spanish by the Cervantes Institute. I have experience writing religious content for Catholic media in Portuguese and Spanish and translating religious websites. I am married, I have three children and I have been a catechist for more than 15 years. I write from Petropolis, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).