Biography

José de Paiva Netto, writer, journalist, radio broadcaster, composer and poet, was born on March 2, 1941, in Rio de Janeiro/RJ (Brazil). He is the President of the Legion of Good Will (LGW), effective member of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), of the Brazilian International Press Association (ABI Inter), of the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ), of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), of the Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Rio de Janeiro, of the Union of Radio Broadcasters of the State of Rio de Janeiro, of the Union of Writers of Rio de Janeiro and of the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC).

Among the many honors bestowed upon him are the Medal of the 1st Centenary of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), the Commendation of the Order of Rio Branco, granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Commander Degree by the Order of Merit of Aeronautics, conferred by its Council, and the Peacemaker Medal, offered by the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. Click here and check out the honors and awards bestowed on Paiva Netto

His childhood and youth were marked by an uncommon concern over spiritual, philosophical, educational, social, political, scientific and economic issues and by a deep sense of assistance for those in need.

He studied at the traditional Colégio Pedro II in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where he received the title of “Eminent Student” and was honored with a bronze plaque at the headquarters of this respected Model School. In 1956, while still young, he began his triumphant journey alongside the late founder of the Organization, the Brazilian thinker, journalist, radio broadcaster, writer, poet and social activist Alziro Zarur (1914-1979), one of his main assessors for almost a quarter of a century. With the purpose of dedicating himself fully to the LGW, Paiva Netto left behind his vocation for Medicine. Later on, he became the Secretary-General of the Legion of Good Will (position equivalent to that of Vice President), and with the passing away of Zarur, he took his place at the head of the Organization.

As a composer and record producer, he studied under the instruction of Professor Homero Dornelas (1901-1990), an assistant to the notable Brazilian musician and composer (Heitor) Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). He created the piece called The March of the Little Soldiers of God, sung for the first time by the children assisted by the São Judas Tadeu Institute on April 21, 1960, in Rio de Janeiro/RJ (Brazil), where he served as a volunteer. Their performance was a tribute paid to the capital of Brazil, Brasília, that President Juscelino Kubitschek (1902-1976) was inaugurating on that day.

Among the many activities he engaged into, he acted as a soundman for Zarur’s radio broadcast programs, improving even further his musical ear. Albeit his extreme dedication to the cause of Good Will, he has never lost sight of his connection with music.

His first success, a tribute paid to the people of the Brazilian State of Bahia, was an album called Negrada — Jesus, o Grande Libertador! (April 1, 1983, in Salvador/BA), which has sold 100,000 copies, an unheard-of achievement in the classical music genre. The work won the stages of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro still in April 1983 and had the notable maestro Isaac Karabtchevsky as its conductor.

The opening of Negrada — Jesus, o Grande Libertador! was arranged by professor Darcy Augusto Malheiros and for the concert with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB), the orchestration was performed by maestro Osman Giuseppe Gióia. Later on, in Bulgaria, in Europe, it was recorded under the orchestration of Alexander Yossifov and conducted by maestro Ricardo Averbach, a worthy disciple of the illustrious Vladi Simeonov.

As from the 80s, his compositions were presented in Florianópolis/SC, Salvador/BA, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Curitiba/PR, Belo Horizonte/MG, Brasília/DF, São Paulo/SP, Porto Alegre and Nova Petrópolis/RS, among other Brazilian cities where the chosen repertoire included many of his compositions dedicated to Saint Mary through which he pays tribute to Brazil and its various States. In the year 2000, a pioneering initiative that stood out was the charitable concerts that were held in Bulgaria, produced by maestro José Eduardo de Paiva and conducted by Bedros Papazian.

Another highlight regarding his musical work is his partnership with maestro Almeida Prado, with whom he wrote Sinfonia Apocalipse (1987) [The Apocalypse Symphony], performed for the first time by the Symphonic Orchestra of the Claudio Santoro National Theater, under the direction of Achille Picchi, before nearly fifty thousand people present during the inauguration of the Temple of Good Will, on October 21, 1989, in Brasília, Brazil’s capital. The Suíte Aquarius — A Dança dos Mundos [The Aquarius Suite—The Dance of the Worlds], orchestrated by the Bulgarian composer Alexander Yossifov, also deserves to be pointed out. The first symphonic piece was recorded by the Bulgarian National Radio Choir and Orchestra, and the last one by the Sofia Chamber Players Orchestra. Both of them were produced in the native country of Pancho Vladiguerov. The Apocalypse Symphony was presented by the LGW Ecumenical Choir in the year 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters. Glenn Watkins, a North American musical critic of classical music, considered the piece one of the ten melodic masterpieces of the 20th century.

Yet another outstanding piece is the O Mistério de Deus Revelado [The Mystery of God Revealed] Oratorio, which was written in Portugal and in the Brazilian States of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul in 1998, under the inspiration of the formidable Villa-Lobos. Recorded by the Svetoslav Obretenov Chapel Choir, from Bulgaria, the work of musical art has exceeded the figure of 500,000 copies sold, being awarded the double platinum disc. On April 9, 2006, the Oratorio was performed in English for the first time at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church, in New York/USA, during the Holy Week Concert, conducted by maestro and Minister Gregory Hopkins and with the participation of The Sanctuary Choir.

On June 20, 2006, nine days before completing his 50 years of work in the LGW, he was honored by the board of directors of the centennial São Pedro Theater from Porto Alegre through its illustrious cultural businesswoman Eva Sopher, with an Evening of Culture, Emotions and Memories, an event that will remain forever in the history of that notable house of culture. His melodies were rendered by the São Pedro Theater Chamber Orchestra and by the LGW Ecumenical Choir, conducted by maestro Antônio Carlos Borges Cunha. Nova Petrópolis was another city of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, that also arranged performances of the author’s musical compositions in 2006.

Throughout the years, his works of musical art have received comments from maestros, composers and renowned musical critics such as Dorival Caymmi (1914-2008), Ricardo Cravo Albin, Francisco Mignone (1897-1986), Ricardo Averbach, José do Espírito Santo (1927-2005), Hélio Rosa and Alexander Yossifov, with whom he wrote a concert for piano and orchestra. Paiva Netto’s phonographic works have sold millions of copies.

As the leader of the Legion of Good Will since 1979, he has multiplied the Humanitarian, Social and Educational Programs of the Organization by means of its model schools, which serve for even greater projects, to which he has dedicated a lot of time: reeducation with Ecumenical Spirituality, firmed in the Pedagogy of Affection and in the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy, which propose a new learning method by combining the mind with the heart. This pedagogical proposal, whose methodology is successfully applied in the school network and in the social and educational programs developed by the Legion of Good Will in Brazil and abroad, is also present in homes for children, youngsters and the elderly; Community and Educational Centers; and sports and cultural centers. Both of these pedagogies “are based on the values originated from Fraternal Love, brought to Earth by several luminaries, especially by Jesus, the Ecumenical Christ, the Divine Statesman”, as the deviser of this proposal, the educator Paiva Netto stated. The Pedagogy of Affection focuses on children up to ten years of age, uniting feelings to the cognitive development of the little ones, so that care and affection can permeate all the knowledge and the environments of their lives, including the school one. In the continuity of the learning process, the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy is directed towards the education of adolescents and adults, preparing them to live the concept of Ecumenical Citizenship, established on the full exercise of planetary Solidarity. Its flag is the New Commandment of Jesus, the Ecumenical Christ: “Love one another as I have loved you. Only by this shall all of you be recognized as my disciples. There is no greater Love than to lay down his own Life for his friends” (The Gospel, according to John, 13:34 and 35 and 15:13).

The President of the LGW’s constant concern about offering the less endowed layers of society access to an Education that attracts attention by blending educational instruction and Ecumenical Spirituality was commented by Professor Arnaldo Niskier, former President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), who has affirmed that it is “a noteworthy effort. Paiva Netto is bringing a brand-new teaching methodology that requires specialized teachers who are not available in the job market and therefore will have to be prepared within a completely original and revolutionary system from a pedagogical point of view”.

The fame of such an enterprise made the late journalist Ibrahim Sued (1929-1995) to choose Paiva Netto for an interview about the future of Education, and this would be his last great reporting job to crown the long and successful career of Ibrahim, considered as a pioneer of social columns in Brazil for having interviewed few and selected personalities, among them the once President of the United States John Kennedy (1917-1963), Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) and, during the inauguration of the city of Brasília, the then Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek. The Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy also received comments praising the initiative from personalities all over the world who were present at the ECOSOC High-Level Segment, which took place at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), in July 2007. At that time, the Director of the Poverty Eradication Division, from the Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment of the United Republic of Tanzania, Anna Mwasha has expressed:

“The LGW is doing a very wonderful job, particularly in making sure that the children are getting quality Education with values. Different values which develop their brains and hearts. In the future, these children will make all the difference in society and change it completely, making Peace dominate everywhere. I was very much touched. In the more developed countries, much is said about improving the quality of Education, but I understand that the Legion of Good Will fights mainly to mold the children’s character with values like Love and making them calm and aware. An Education built on these values can completely change a society, make people live in Peace, and, in this way, improve the whole world. That is why the LGW employs a blue heart as its symbol. This logo means a lot, it means Love; it’s a global symbol. And if someone has Love, we know that Peace will be there, that development will be there; it is for these small things that you will be able to, spiritually—and even academically—, share with others. So, with the few resources that a person may have, if Love is there, it is possible to share and bring development to many”.


This kind of work has no frontiers and enraptures other nations. Currently, this solidary initiative is developed by the Legion of Good Will of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Portugal and of the United States, aside from many other regions of the world.

The LGW was the first Brazilian civil society organization to become a member of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) since 1994. In 1999, it also became the first Brazilian civil society organization to have general consultative status within the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In the year 2000, it took part in the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO), in Vienna, Austria. The LGW has actively participated in the major meetings of the ECOSOC, contributing with important documents and publications, translated into several languages and delivered to Heads of State, ministerial advisers, and civil society representatives. Among these materials, the magazines Solidary Society, Peace for the Millennium and Globalization of Fraternal Love are highlighted. This last was forwarded to the 2007 High-Level Segment, which took place at the Palais des Nations, the UN Office in Geneva (Switzerland), and was received with much enthusiasm by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on the occasion of his visit to the LGW’s booth at the event. The secretary attested his support to the LGW by signing the cover of the magazine and restated his best wishes towards the success of all the actions undertaken by the Legion of Good Will. Aside from the role of motivating the civil society to the fulfillment of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the LGW holds the position of Vice President of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns at the UN headquarters in New York.

On October 21,1989, Paiva Netto founded in Brasília/DF, Brazil’s capital, the Temple of Good Will (TGW) with the presence of more than 50 thousand people. The TGW is the symbol of Unrestricted Ecumenism, which preaches the conciliation of all creatures and all the peoples of Earth, and of Total Ecumenism, which proclaims the urgent need of a communion between the Humanity from Earth and the Humanity from Heaven. That is why it is also known as the Temple of the Luminous Spirits or of the Blessed Souls, since after all the dead do not die. The TGW, also admired for its bold architecture which reflects its universalist Spirituality, is considered by the traditional newspaper Diário de Notícias, from Lisbon (Portugal) the largest construction in the shape of a pyramid of the 20th century. On Paiva Netto’s initiative, in 1994 the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity (the LGW’s ParlaMundi) was inaugurated alongside the Temple of Peace before more than 100,000 people. This building that integrates the most visited architectural complex in Brasília (located at SGAS 915), according to Brasília’s Tourism Office (Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Turismo do Distrito Federal – SDET), has already received since its inauguration more than 19 million pilgrims and tourists.

Close to the inauguration of the TGW, the former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 2002, Jimmy Carter, and the then Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher, manifested their admiration for the enterprise.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the ParlaMundi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1979, congratulated the leader of the LGW on the initiative: “Dear Mr. José de Paiva Netto, I entrust you with my prayers for all people. May God’s blessings be with all of you of the Legion of Good Will, and may many people get to know the Love of Jesus through the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity and keep alive the Good News of His Love in the world, loving one another as He has loved us. May God bless all of you”.

Other distinguished heads of State, such as the former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, aside from other notables who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, have praised the cause championed by Paiva Netto, among them the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, from South Africa; the Argentinean writer Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; the President of East Timor, Dr. José Ramos-Horta; the International Human Rights Activist Ms. Shirin Ebade; and Yasser Arafat (1929-2004), former President of the Palestinian Authority.

In order to honor the personalities who distinguish themselves in their fields of endeavor towards the diffusion of Peace and Solidarity in Brazil and in the world, Paiva Netto has created the Commendation of the Order of Merit of Ecumenical Fraternity, a prize which, since 1996, is given on an annual basis at the ParlaMundi. Among those who have already received the LGW’s Commendation are the statesmen Mário Soares (former President and former Prime Minister of Portugal) and Nelson Mandela (Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and the first black President of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999); Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan leader and Nobel Peace Prize in 1989); the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; the “Athlete of the Century”, Pelé; the Spiritist medium Francisco Cândido Xavier (1910-2002); and Dom Hélder Câmara (1909-1999), former Archbishop of the cities of Olinda and Recife, of the Brazilian State of Pernambuco. In addition to these, other great names from several branches of the Brazilian society and of the world were also honored by a special session of the Order of Merit of Ecumenical Fraternity, delivered on the occasion of the Brazilian Day, in New York (USA), which is held annually in the heart of Manhattan to celebrate the Independence of Brazil. This festival receives every year more than a million people, establishing itself as one of the Big Apple’s most popular gatherings.

The LGW’s leader also created in the year 2000 the LGW’s World Forum Spirit and Science, which became the greatest world movement of this nature in forming new paradigms of human thought, founded on the convergence and on the interchange between the scientific knowledge and the several religious traditions. This Forum has already counted on the presence of many notables such as the North American astronaut Edgar Mitchell, member of the Apollo 14 crew and the sixth man to walk on the moon; Alexander Lazutkin, the Russian cosmonaut who was part of the crew of the MIR-23 Mission; the quantum physicists and writers Amit Goswami (from the United States), Patrick Drouot (from France) and Waldyr Rodrigues (from Brazil); the Brazilian astronomer Ronaldo Rogério de Freitas Mourão; the French psychologist and educator Pierre Weil (1924-2008); and the Tibetan Lama Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, aside from other important personalities. The event proposes more than a permanent theoretical debate, stimulating the implementation of its proposals in the pragmatic field of society’s achievements. He also founded the Jesus, the Ecumenical Christ, Academy, composed of the Institute for Study and Research on Science of the Soul and of the Institute for Study, Research and Experience of the New Commandment of Jesus.

With the purpose of propagating this ideal of Solidarity, Paiva Netto created the Super Good Will Radio Network (Super RBV), the Boa Vontade TV and the World Television Network — the TV of Education, Culture and of Altruistic and Solidary Citizenship with Ecumenical Spirituality (RMTV).

He is the author of several bestsellers, with more than 4 million books sold, and has also written for important newspapers and magazines of the whole world, such as: the Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Coimbra, Correio da Manhã, Jornal de Notícias, O Primeiro de Janeiro, Notícias de Gaia, Voz do Rio Tinto, Jornal da Maia and O Público (Portugal); Time South, Jeune Afrique and African News (Africa); Daily Post (internationally circulated); Clarín (Argentina); Jornada (Bolivia); El Diário Notícias and ABC Color (Paraguay); El Pais (Uruguay); and for International Business and Management magazine, aside from other important vehicles in Brazil and abroad.

About this aspect of his personality, the North American writer Errol Lincoln Uys has noted that: “Paiva Netto, being a practical man, has nevertheless a soul of a poet”. According to the definition by the notable professor, jurisconsult and treatiser José Cretella Júnior, “he is an excellent stylist, always up to date with what is going on”. And, in the opinion of the master of professors Moacir C. Lopes, “he is a very talented writer”.