The Archdiocese of Curitiba, Brazil, has issued a statement in defense of Renato Freitas, a left-wing politician who may lose his city-council seat after he joined activists in a February a noisy February demonstration inside a Catholic church.

Although the archdiocese had earlier decried the anti-racism protest as “invasive, disrespectful, and grotesque,” the new statement lauded Freitas for “the desire of justice for the ones who have historically suffered discrimination in our country.”

Freitas had backed a “noble cause,” the archdiocese said, and had apologized for the excesses of the demonstration.