Venezuelan Cardinal Denounces Marxist Socialism

Responds to Criticisms of President Chávez

ROME, JULY 9, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, is denouncing the government's attempts to install a Marxist Socialist regime through "unconstitutional" and "illegal" methods violating the rights and will of the people.

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino underlined the need to speak publicly, to voice "my conscience as a Venezuelan and as archbishop of Caracas, given the reality that we are experiencing."

He wrote a statement, issued Wednesday, denouncing "the danger that is threatening our beloved homeland."

"Going beyond the national constitution," the cardinal wrote, President Hugo Chávez "and his government want to lead the country on the path of Marxist Socialism, which monopolizes all spaces, is totalitarian, and leads to a dictatorship, not even of the proletariat, but of the leadership that governs."

"Going against the popular will, which on Dec. 2, 2007, rejected the proposal of nationalizing and the socialist reform of the national constitution, through unconstitutional laws, there is an attempt to implant in Venezuela a Marxist regime, as the president has openly proclaimed on repeated occasions," the prelate stated.

He asserted that "such conduct is unconstitutional and illegal but, above all, it attempts against the human, civil and political rights of Venezuelans."

"The failure of Marxist Socialism in other countries is more than evident," Cardinal Urosa noted.

Economic concerns

He continued, "Moreover, the pretension to monopolize all productive activities through, for example, the progressive monopolization of importation, distribution and commercialization of foods, is in the line of dismantling the national productive apparatus so that we will all depend on the government even to eat."

Chávez has progressively nationalized many major national companies in various industries: oil, telephone, electric, steel, and cement. In addition, he has taken over supermarkets and large areas of farmland. This nationalization, along with government-issued price controls and other factors, has contributed to a rapid decrease in food production in the country. Thus Venezuela currently imports around two-thirds of its food needs.

The cardinal pointed out that this will not benefit "the Venezuelan producers, peasants and workers, but those of other countries."

"Together with the progressive indebtedness of the country," he added, it will lead "to the ruin of our economy as well as to a foreign dependence, totally contrary to the necessary food sovereignty."

"Concerned about installing a Marxist Socialist system, the government neglects its primary constitutional tasks: to protect the security of the people hit especially in the poorest sectors by violence and delinquency; to promote better care in the field of health, to build and maintain the infrastructure of highways and means of transport," among other things, Cardinal Urosa stated.

Attacks

The prelate, who wrote the statement while on a scheduled trip to Rome for various meetings, published these words after Chávez leveled attacks against the cardinal himself and the entire Venezuelan episcopate.

During a national assembly on Monday, the day his nation celebrates its independence, the Venezuelan president called the archbishop of Caracas a "troglodyte" for trying to "scare people about communism."

"This gentleman is unworthy of calling himself cardinal," Chávez said, and asked the papal nuncio to Argentina, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, to tell Benedict XVI to send a replacement.

Cardinal Urosa said in response, "The president does not have license to insult, defame or abuse any Venezuelan."

"He has attacked me verbally on several occasions, exposing me unjustly to public ridicule," the prelate stated. "I totally reject these aggressions, which are unbecoming to the one who does them."

"The appointment of all the bishops of Venezuela and of the world is in the hands of the Church," he emphasized, "not in the hands of politicians."

The cardinal affirmed that all the bishops are builders of peace, and thus "without pretending to assume quotas of power or becoming political operators, we claim our right to pronounce ourselves on everything that has to do with the life and future of the Venezuelan people."

"We want the good, coexistence and progress of Venezuela," he affirmed, "with opportunities for all, without exclusions or injustices or intolerance, with longings for unity, well-being, progress and peace."

Cardinal Urosa encouraged "all men and women of good will to work ceaselessly and fearlessly, in the framework of the national constitution, so that fraternity and solidarity, liberty, justice and peace will reign in Venezuela."

He affirmed, "We Venezuelan bishops are solidly united in the task of serving the people as witnesses and ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and pastors of the People of God in Venezuela."

Solidarity

Several Church entities have expressed support and solidarity for Cardinal Urosa.

The semi-official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, stated its Thursday edition, "The Catholic Church in Venezuela firmly rejects the indescribable verbal aggression of which the cardinal archbishop of Caracas has been the object."

It added that the president took "advantage of the celebrations of the bicentenary of national independence," to pour "gasoline on the fire of Church-state relations."

The secretary-general of the Venezuelan episcopal conference, Auxiliary Bishop Jesús González de Zárate Salas of Caracas, also publicly rejected the accusations.

The council of priests of the Archdiocese of Caracas issued a communiqué, in which it stated that, "as a Venezuelan citizen, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino has the full right and duty to opine and contribute to the common good."

It added, "As archbishop of Caracas he has the full right, more than that, he has the sacred duty to guide Catholics on religious and moral principles and values that are at stake in the present social and political situation of our country."

Manuel Arcaya, president of the National Council of the Laity of Venezuela, said in a communiqué Wednesday, on behalf of the laypeople, movements and diocesan councils, "We categorically reject the adjectives and insults" brought against the cardinal.

Arcaya said he shares "with His Eminence the very grave concern that the country is being led to a Cuban style Communism."

"The objective of the government's campaign of despair is to generate sadness and passivity, sentiments that are foreign to our faith," he said.

This electoral year, Arcaya affirmed, "is an opportunity for us to be involved in the problems that afflict the country and to revise the basic proposals that the candidates of the various political parties offer us because our active and conscious participation will have consequences in the immediate future."

ZE10070910 - 2010-07-09
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-29851?l=english

Chávez Launches Attack Against Cardinal Urosa

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-29825?l=english
ZE10070707 - 2010-07-07



Venezuelan President Asks Pope for Replacement

CARACAS, Venezuela, JULY 7, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is playing with fire, says the semi-official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

The newspaper reported this in reference to the insults the Venezuelan president leveled Monday against Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, the archbishop of Caracas, calling him a "troglodyte" for trying to "scare people about communism."

“We don’t deserve a cardinal like [Urosa],” Chávez said during a national assembly on the day his nation celebrates its independence. “This gentleman is unworthy of calling himself cardinal.”

He asked the papal nuncio to Argentina, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, to tell Benedict XVI to replace the current cardinal with Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta of San Cristobal.

L'Osservatore Romano says the president took "advantage of the celebrations of the bicentenary of national independence," to pour "gasoline on the fire of Church-state relations."

"Addressing the National Assembly in a solemn commemorative session, Chávez directed very harsh insults to the cardinal, who recently criticized the closing of many of the opposition media and invited the government to respect the democratic rights recognized by the Constitution, insults also repeated in a television broadcast," reports the Vatican newspaper.

"The Catholic Church in Venezuela firmly rejects the indescribable verbal aggression of which the cardinal archbishop of Caracas has been the object," states the article, which will appear Thursday in the Italian edition.

In an interview with Globovision network, the secretary-general of the Venezuelan episcopal conference, Auxiliary Bishop Jesús González de Zárate Salas of Caracas, rejected the accusations. He has become the spokesman of the manifestations of solidarity that the cardinal has received from the whole country.

Right and duty

In the same line, the council of priests of the archdiocese of Caracas issued a communiqué, in which it states that, "as a Venezuelan citizen, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino has the full right and duty to opine and contribute to the common good, in keeping with his ample cultural preparation and his personal convictions."

The note continued: "As archbishop of Caracas he has the full right, more than that, he has the sacred duty to guide Catholics on religious and moral principles and values that are at stake in the present social and political situation of our country. This is a part of his office that he cannot give up as principal pastor of our Caracas Church and eminent member of the Venezuelan episcopate.

"In this connection it should be pointed out that all the public statements on topics that affect the collectivity and, hence, the common good, have been very pointed and specific and have been made from the plane of the great principles of the Gospel, and from the systematic application of the latter in the field of social topics, that is, from the Social Doctrine of the Church."

The council also stated that it rejected Chavez's attempt to interfer with the internal decision s of the Church by telling the Pope who he should name as archbishop of Venezuela. "The Holy Father, as Universal Pastor of the Catholic Church, enjoys total autonomy and liberty to appoint the bishops for the different diocesan sees in the whole world and to institute the members of the College of Cardinals.

"The clergy of the archdiocese, together with their faithful, reiterate their unbreakable communion with the archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, our legitimate pastor."