Marcelo Rossi

Marcelo Mendonça Rossi (born 20 May 1967) is a Brazilian Catholic priest known for his novel approaches to ministering to the faithful. He is also a writer and a singer, and he uses music intensely in his Masses. He has recorded music CDs, hosts radio and TV programs, and has appeared as an actor in two movies with religious themes. All of these endeavors have been big hits in the media, but Father Rossi donates all the proceeds to Catholic charities and 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.

Rossi has become by far the biggest Christian artistic phenomenon in Latin America with over 11 million albums sold throughout his entire career. He is known for his choreographies of Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) movement, and the publication of works (CDs, DVDs, film and television). By dint of singing, dancing and doing choreographies in crowded liturgies and TV shows, Father Marcelo Rossi aims to bring people together to Christ's message and the Church's teaching in an original yet modern and light way. He has recorded nine albums since 1998, regularly appears on TV shows, has his radio program with more than 100,000 listeners across the country and his church services out in the open attract thousands of faithful believers. In 1998 he decided to break into the music market and recorded several songs live on a CD entitled "Músicas para Louvar ao Senhor" (and the Spanish version "Canciones para alabar al Señor"). In 1999 he released his second CD "Um presente para Jesus", and in 2000, "Canções para um Novo Milênio".

In 2001, he launched the album Paz by Universal Music, which became the eighth best selling album of that year and won him a nomination for a Latin Grammy in 2002, year in which he released an album entitled Anjos by Sony Music. It turned out to be the fourteenth biggest-selling album of that year.

On 31 March 2002, during the celebration of Easter, Father Marcelo Rossi was appointed as Rector of the Santuário do Terço Bizantino in Jurubatuba – Santo Amaro, São Paulo state.

In 2003 he produced his sixth CD and made his first film "Maria, Mãe do Filho de Deus" which was a successful one In 2004 he launched his second film, "Irmãos de Fé" which was also very successful.

The year 2006 was marked by the release of the album Minha Benção by Sony BMG. It was the biggest selling album of that year, getting diamond certification and triple platinum. The album Minha Benção was also the biggest selling album of 2007, and in the same year the album Momento de Fé para uma Vida Melhor was released which was the twelfth best selling album of that year. In 2008, two were the albums that reached positions among the top sellers, which called themselves, Paz Sim, Violência Não – Volume 1 and Paz Sim, Violência Não – Volume 2, reaching the second and sixth positions among the top sellers that year; volume 1 was certified in 2008 as double platinum in 2009 was certified as triple platinum. In the same year the DVD Paz Sim – Violência Não (Volume 1) was the best-selling, according to the ABPD and received double platinum certification.