He said the first moments after learning of her condition were terrifying, during which he asked himself, “What have I done? Am I paying for a sin in my past?” He said his wife, Isabella Bittencourt, calmed him by saying that God had given them Ivy.

With hindsight, he now says his daughter helped him mature by giving him purpose as a politician. After joining the Socialist Party, he began focusing on the rights of the disabled. He proved instrumental in the approval of legislation, named partly in honor of his daughter, creating special subsidies for people with disabilities.

“I’m finally used to Brasília,” he said of the capital, while explaining that it took months to grasp the importance of arcane rules of seniority and decorum in the Congress.

Still, long-winded speeches by fellow legislators irk him. So does their seemingly relaxed approach to the job of legislating. “I’ve been in Brasília three weeks and nothing happens,” Romário said in a February Twitter message. “Does the year really start after Carnival?”

ROOKIE members of Congress are not supposed to make such statements about their peers, which explains, perhaps, some of the admiration Romário has received outside Brasília. Calling him a “voice in the desert,” the writer Lya Luft lauded his courage in an essay about accountability in Brazilian politics.

Romário’s criticism of Brazil’s political establishment intensified in recent weeks as he focused on the country’s preparations for the 2014 World Cup, which have been marred by corruption scandals, construction delays and strikes by workers at sites where stadiums are being built.