Pope Francis writes letter to Venezuelan President
Maduro
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
has written a letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in reference to the
situation in the country. The chief of the Vatican Press Office, Father
Federico Lombardi sj confirmed the news without giving information about the
letter’s contents, on Monday.
Amid triple-digit inflation
rates, Venezuela is undergoing one of the most serious economic crises of its
history and basic goods and food are increasingly difficult to find. Shortages
have led to smuggling and a thriving black market while power outages have led
to looting.
"The Pope is following
with great attention and participation the situation in Venezuela,” Lombardi
said and cited the pontiff’s “most recent public remarks” and the “ample
passage, very eloquent” which the Pope dedicated to Venezuela on Easter Sunday
in the message before the Urbi et Orbi Blessing.
The Pope said: “With the
weapons of love, God has defeated selfishness and death. His son Jesus is the
door of mercy wide open to all. May his Easter message be felt ever more
powerfully by the beloved people of Venezuela in the difficult conditions which
they are experiencing, and by those responsible for the country’s future, that
everyone may work for the common good, seeking spaces of dialogue and
cooperation with all. May efforts be made everywhere to promote the culture of
counter, justice and reciprocal respect, which alone can guarantee the
spiritual and material welfare of all people.”
"The seriousness of the
situation appears clearly from the recent Statement of Bishops on 27 April,”
Fr. Lombardi stated. “For his part, the Nuncio, S.E. Msgr. Giordano, has
committed very clearly to encourage the dialogue desired by the Pope.”
“In this context, I can say
that the Pope himself did recently have a personal letter given to President
Maduro, with reference to the situation of the country," Lombardi said.
Venezuelan Bishops press
government to permit Church to help
In their 27 April statement,
Venezuela’s bishops urged the government of President Maduro to allow the
Church to bring in much-needed supplies such as food and medicine.
They warned that never before
had the country suffered from such an “extreme lack of goods and basic food and
health products” combined with “an upsurge in murderous and inhuman
crime, the unreliable rationing of electricity and water, and deep corruption
in all levels of the government and society.”
They recalled that the
government is duty-bound to “encourage all forms of assistance to its citizens”
and to provide basic goods and services.
Authorization, the bishops
said, “is urgently needed for private institutions in the country, such as
Caritas or other programs of different religious denominations…to bring in
food, medicine, and other basic needs from national and international aid
groups, and to organize distribution networks in order to meet the urgent needs
of the people.”
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