Archbishop calls on Venezuelans to live Lent without violence and in conversion

Caracas, Venezuela, Mar 9, 2009 / 21:41 pm

The Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, has called on Venezuelans to live this Lent as a time of conversion and reconciliation and to abandon all forms of violence.

“In this Lent I especially invite you to reject everything related to violence: hatred, anger and aggressiveness, discord, greed, injustice,” the cardinal said in his Lenten message.  “Amidst the criminal violence and unleashed underworld that saddens and fills so many Venezuelan homes with tears, especially those of the poor, we Catholics reaffirm the greatness of human life and the respect that is due to every person.”

“I invite you all to strengthen this profound conviction of our holy faith.  Kidnappings, murders, bounty hunting, are very grave sins. They are crimes and offences that must by strongly punished in accord with the Constitution and with the law,” he added.

The cardinal noted that “the consumption and trafficking of drugs are at the root of many of these crimes.  Therefore they must be directly confronted.  The government, at its different levels, has the very grave obligation to preserve the lives and patrimony of all of the inhabitants of the country.  I invite those who have followed the road of crime and delinquency to change their lives, to be converted in their hearts, and to re-enter society respecting the right to life and the property of all citizens.”

“The Lord gives us this holy season of Lent to invite us to conversion so that, interiorly renewed by the Holy Spirit and abandoning sin in all of its forms, we can live truly in accord with our faith, and we can prepare ourselves with joy and hearts full of God for the joy of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the cardinal said.