CATHOLIC clergy are normally carried away with their own hot air – but it was helium that seems to have taken batty Brazilian priest, Adelir Antonio de Carli, off the face of the planet this week.
De Carli, 41, has been missing since Sunday, when he lifted off from the port city of Paranagua strapped to 1,000 helium-filled balloons and wearing a helmet, an aluminum thermal flight suit, waterproof coveralls and a parachute.
He made the sign of the cross as he soared up into the air under a cluster of green, red, white and yellow balloons.
Yesterday, Brazil’s air force suspended its search for the priest who vanished after ascending under the cluster of balloons. But the cleric’s family chartered a private plane to continue the hunt.
According to Worldwide Religious News, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry said the air force halted its search in the early morning:
Over the past few days, air force planes flew over 5,000 square kilometers (1,900 square miles) of land and sea and found no trace of the priest. But the navy is continuing to search using a helicopter and two boats.
Denise Gallas, the treasurer of de Carli’s parish, said his family chartered a twin-engine plane after several parishioners said they had “premonitions” he had landed near a small town called Barra Velha on the coast of Santa Catarina state. She added:
We remain as confident as ever that he is still alive. Our faith is unshakable.
According to Gallas, the priest hoped his flight would help raise money for a centre where truck drivers could stop “to rest and receive the gospel”.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
April 26th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Wow!! A person stupid enough to try this happens to also be delusional enough to believe in virgin birth and the rest. Who would have thought? And now, natural selection takes its toll. This is really shocking.
And, of course, his flock of sheeple will not be shaken in their belief even if their god character fails to rescue him. Their faith is unshakable, i.e. not subject to evidence.
I wonder if they’ll think he was taken bodily up into heaven and name him a saint.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:00 am
His “sheeple” – I LIKE that term – are in a win-win situation, MS. If he’s never found, they will call it a “miracle” ie taken up to take his place with Jesus, God and the Angels, and if he is found alive they will call it a “miracle”, a sign of “divine” intervention.
April 26th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHA Thats a darwin award winner if ever I’ve seen one:P