“Eating Grass by the Roots”: The Discursive Production of Violence Against Father Júlio Lancellotti

Abstract

This study investigates the discursive production of violence against Father Júlio Lancellotti on digital social networks. The analysis seeks to describe how violence is materialized through language and how it activates power relations, grounded in discursive positions aligned with the far right. The main theoretical framework draws on concepts from Foucauldian Discourse Studies — such as discourse, statement (énoncé), discursive formation, and power relations — in dialogue with authors who examine the production of violence in digital environments. The analytical corpus comprises five discursive materialities collected from the Instagram profile @padrejulio.lancellotti. The study demonstrates that the discursive construction of violence against the priest stems from his pastoral work with unhoused populations, framed as part of a communist domination agenda, allegedly responsible for increasing the presence of these groups and intensifying criminality, particularly in the Mooca neighborhood. Furthermore, the analysis identified direct attacks on the priest’s reputation through references to fake news that portray him as a criminal and sexual deviant, as well as expressions of the desire for his physical elimination and the reinforcement of repressive policies against unhoused populations, aimed at advancing an urban space “cleansing” project.