Venezuelan bishops to bring Vatican up to speed on their country’s crisis

Caracas, Venezuela, Apr 13, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The Bishops Conference of Venezuela issued a statement yesterday announcing that the body’s president, Archbishop Baltasar Porras, has traveled to Rome to inform the Holy See about the crisis currently enveloping the country.

The statement says Archbishop Porras has traveled to Rome “to visit the Roman dicasteries and to inform the Vatican Secretariat of State about the situation the country is currently enduring.”

According to the official declaration, “the situation currently affecting the Venezuelan people has caused the Holy See unease and concern, and even more so have the continuous attacks on the Venezuelan clergy by the president of the Republic.”

On Palm Sunday, President Hugo Chavez again lashed out at the Church, especially Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara and Archbishop Porras himself, calling them “hypocrites” and “politicians dressed in cassocks” who are promoting “the interests of the powerful.”