Brazilian bishop ends hunger strike to protest water project

Published: 2007-12-21

SOBRADINHO, Brazil (CNS) -- Brazilian Bishop Luiz Cappio of Barra announced he was ending a 23-day hunger strike that protested a $3.7 billion project to divert the Sao Francisco River. The 61-year-old bishop sat in a wheelchair Dec. 20 during an evening Mass celebrated by Bishop Jose da Cruz of Juazeiro. Bishop Cappio had been hospitalized Dec. 19 after losing consciousness. He was released from the hospital late Dec. 20 for the Mass, but returned afterward. Local media said about 500 people attended the Mass in this town near the river, which has been the site of the protest by the bishop, the Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission and various grass-roots groups. In a message read during the Mass, Bishop Cappio said he had listened "with deep respect to the appeal from my relatives, friends and brothers and sisters in the struggle, who accompany me and who want me alive and fighting for life."

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