Marcelo Mendonça Rossi (born 20 May 1967) is a Brazilian Catholic
priest widely known and popular in the country for his novel
approaches to ministering to the faithful. He is also a writer and a
singer, and uses music intensely in his Masses, has recorded several
music CDs, is a host to several radio and TV programs in many
stations, has appeared as an actor in two movies with religious
themes. All of them have been big hits in the media, but Father Rossi
donates all the proceedings to Catholic charities and to his own
parish.Father Rossi is based in São Paulo city where he was born into
a Roman Catholic middle-class family and was raised in the
neighborhood of Santana together with his two sisters Monica and
Marta. His father, Antonio Rossi, worked as a bank manager for many
years while his mother, Wilma, took care of the household. At the age
16 he made the decision of not attending church services any longer
and six years later graduated in Physical Education at the
Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Around that time he lost one of his
cousins in a car accident and his aunt was diagnosed with a malignant
brain tumor. These two family misfortunes filled him with pain and
suffering, and led him to seek God by returning to Church and
enrolling in the prayer groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Marcelo began to take part in parish activities and a year later,
inspired by a TV miniseries on the life of Pope John Paul II, decided
to devote himself to priesthood. He completed two university degrees:
Philosophy at the Universidade Nossa Senhora da Assunção, and
Theology at the Faculdade Salesiana de Lorena. On 1 December 1994 he
was ordained to the priesthood.As a priest, Father Marcelo Rossi
became a phenomenon of the mass media culture in the late 1990s. He
began an intensive and enthusiastic work of preaching the Gospel,
winning over the faithful who attended his Masses in the Parish of
Perpétuo Socorro e Santa Rosalia, in Santo Amaro, São Paulo. As a
result of the rapidly increasing turnout at his Masses, the
celebrations were carried out in larger and larger spaces until he
came to use the Avenue of the United Nations in São Paulo and even
football stadiums like Maracanã and the Morumbi, as "headquarters" of
his Masses on days of preaching and praying.
priest widely known and popular in the country for his novel
approaches to ministering to the faithful. He is also a writer and a
singer, and uses music intensely in his Masses, has recorded several
music CDs, is a host to several radio and TV programs in many
stations, has appeared as an actor in two movies with religious
themes. All of them have been big hits in the media, but Father Rossi
donates all the proceedings to Catholic charities and to his own
parish.Father Rossi is based in São Paulo city where he was born into
a Roman Catholic middle-class family and was raised in the
neighborhood of Santana together with his two sisters Monica and
Marta. His father, Antonio Rossi, worked as a bank manager for many
years while his mother, Wilma, took care of the household. At the age
16 he made the decision of not attending church services any longer
and six years later graduated in Physical Education at the
Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Around that time he lost one of his
cousins in a car accident and his aunt was diagnosed with a malignant
brain tumor. These two family misfortunes filled him with pain and
suffering, and led him to seek God by returning to Church and
enrolling in the prayer groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Marcelo began to take part in parish activities and a year later,
inspired by a TV miniseries on the life of Pope John Paul II, decided
to devote himself to priesthood. He completed two university degrees:
Philosophy at the Universidade Nossa Senhora da Assunção, and
Theology at the Faculdade Salesiana de Lorena. On 1 December 1994 he
was ordained to the priesthood.As a priest, Father Marcelo Rossi
became a phenomenon of the mass media culture in the late 1990s. He
began an intensive and enthusiastic work of preaching the Gospel,
winning over the faithful who attended his Masses in the Parish of
Perpétuo Socorro e Santa Rosalia, in Santo Amaro, São Paulo. As a
result of the rapidly increasing turnout at his Masses, the
celebrations were carried out in larger and larger spaces until he
came to use the Avenue of the United Nations in São Paulo and even
football stadiums like Maracanã and the Morumbi, as "headquarters" of
his Masses on days of preaching and praying.
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