Tradition, Family, Property
[1][2] The first TFP was founded by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in Brazil in 1960, inspired by his 1959 book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, which became the TFPs' foundational text,[3] later supplemented by his 1993 Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII.
[5] After his death, there was a legal battle upon the title and ownership of the Brazilian TFP, which was ultimately won by João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, in 2004, while he had created previously the Heralds of the Gospel (2001).
"[11] Raúl Matta, in L'Ordinaire Latino-Américaine, pointed out that the group's presentation of Catholic tradition is selective, drawing on speeches and encyclicals from the most conservative popes, including the 1864 Syllabus of Errors.
In 2019 Francis named retired Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida as pontifical commissioner of the Heralds of the Gospel and its religious branches for consecrated men and women.
"[16] A recent study pointed out that "TFP draws on a rigid interpretation of Christianity to offer the faithful an all-encompassing ideological justification for what are, in essence, very conservative politics.
"[17] It has been noted that similar religious movements "are benign compared to Tradition, Family and Property (TFP)" which is also "opposed by the Catholic leadership because of its beliefs and recruiting procedures.
[23] TFP sees this meeting as the beginning of its expansion,[24] with the foundation of TFP offices, national TFPs, and affiliated organizations in 29 countries throughout the world, including Argentina (1967), Chile (1967), Uruguay (1967), Paraguay (1967), Peru (1970), Spain (1971), Bolivia (1973), Colombia (1971), Ecuador (1973), Portugal (1974), the United States (1974), Venezuela (1971), Canada (1975), Italy (1976), France (1977), United Kingdom (1980), Germany (1982), South Africa (1983), Australia (1988), India (1992), Poland (1995), Austria (1999), Ireland (2004), Belgium, Costa Rica, Lithuania, the Philippines, and New Zealand.
"[27] Although these TFPs described themselves as "autonomous anticommunist organizations inspired by the traditional teachings of the Popes",[28] they cooperated effectively to advance their social and political agenda.
A striking example occurred in 1981 when thirteen TFPs (and related organizations) published a six-page critique by Oliveira of François Mitterrand's Socialist government program to implement what was called "self-managing socialism".
[35] Around 1976 or 1977 a Father Vicente was forced to flee to Uruguay with the assistance of the Jesuit Provincial, Jorge Bergoglio (later Pope Francis), after having been threatened by TFP for preaching against the murder of three Pallottine priests and two seminarians.
[36] The Sociedade Brasileira de Defesa da Tradição, Família e Propriedade was founded in 1960 and flourished during conservative opposition to the land reform proposed in Brazil by the government of João Goulart.
[47] Notably, at their 23rd general assembly in 1985 the Brazilian Bishops criticized TFP for its "lack of communion … with the Church in Brazil, its hierarchy, and the Holy Father" and for its "esoteric character, the religious fanaticism, and the cult given to the personality of its leader and his mother.
[52] The official website of the original Brazilian Society for Defense of Tradition, Family and Property still remains active and promotes their magazine, named Dr. Plinio, despite the restrictions imposed on them.
[55][56] In 1976, during the Pinochet dictatorship, the TFP published a book maintaining that Catholics are duty bound to resist pastors and clergy who support the hierarchy, especially the defender of human rights Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, who they said was leading the country toward Communism.
[65][66][67] The Young South Africans for a Christian Civilisation (TFP) was founded in 1984, during the declining years of the apartheid regime, to resist "the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times"[68] and to provide theological support for the idea of a natural inequality in society.
[69] The South African bishops issued a strongly worded rebuttal of the accusation that the New Nation was a "communist" newspaper[70] and noted that TFP's critiques ignored the gospel basis of liberation theology.
Its national headquarters is in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, with branch offices in McLean, Virginia, Chicago, Illinois, Rossville, Kansas, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Orange County, California.
