“No one is buried in a mass grave,” assures the Chamber Funchal Municipal Council (CMF). Their answer is in response to a request for clarification by DIÁRIO following a post published by Father José Luís Rodrigues, under the title ‘People are not cattle,’ in which he expressed indignation at the alleged practice of “using mass graves to bury multiple bodies.”
In his statement, Father José Luís Rodrigues warns:
‘People are not cattle!’ He then went on to express his indignation at the treatment of the dead at the Cemetery of São Paulo, São Martinho. Stating that it is degrading and depressing that mass graves are being used to bury bodies.
Publishing photographs of the excavation site he said that the municipality is determined to bury cattle and not people. He went on to expound that soon there will only be massive piles of earth, concealing a mass grave. How black is death? He exclaimed. “Are we at war or facing yet another epidemic? Hundreds of people are dead and we don’t realise it!”
Concluding he blames previous mayors for capitalising on the use of multi-inhabitant graves as an expedient way of disposing of the dead. The dead he said, deserve to have a grave dug for them, not as part of a production line.
Journalists from DIÁRIO also contacted the Funchal City Council, requesting clarification on the opening of mass graves in cemeteries, and also requested a response to the priest’s accusations from the Municipality of Funchal.
Responding to the criticisms, the CMF began by pointing out that “statistically in the winter months more people die. Therefore, there is an increase in the number of funerals. Today, the 7th of January 2025, was an exceptional day. There were 13 funerals in a single day, in the municipal cemeteries. In the São Martinho Cemetery alone, there were 3 cremations, 5 earth burials, and 2 entombments.”
For a better understanding, the CMF spokesperson said:
“In the daily routine of burial, the service team prepares an average of 3 graves the day before the funeral. The earth removed from the graves is accumulated in a restricted area since the existence of graves makes it impossible to store it close by. The reason why there was so much earth piled up today was because of the number of graves that needed to be dug.”
The CMF adds that “tomorrow, again, there will be 5 earth burials, so the team will have to proceed in the same way.”
