Church in Venezuela aims to be 'place of encounter for everyone'

By Federico Piana 

Promoting peace and dialogue is a "daily" task, says Archbishop Jesús Andoni González de Zárate Salas, President of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference. 

It's not an easy mandate, in a country which remains unstable following the US capture of President Maduro.

“The local Church,” the Archbishop said in an interview with Vatican News, “is making every effort to be a place of encounter for everyone, and to accompany the people constantly in their struggle for the triumph of good, truth and justice.”

He stressed that Venezuela's bishops are acutely aware of their essential role at this moment of grave difficulty, and are considering new initiatives that “will be decided and developed only after we see how the national dynamic evolves.”

Paths to peace

Archbishop González de Zárate identified the foundation for building a more just and free society as “the primacy of human dignity, the common good and the main Gospel values”.

“The current complex social and economic conditions of our nation,” he explained, “are the result of a process that has unfolded over recent years. Insecurity, shortcomings in education, healthcare and transport, precarious wages, constant inflation and the lack of national production all weigh heavily on the daily lives of the vast majority of the population and today represent their chief concern."

Conflicting emotions

Venezuelan's feelings about recent events are mixed, Archbishop González de Zárate said: “One could say that concern over the concrete consequences of what has happened coexists with hopes for a swift and lasting improvement."

A positive sign recently was the authorities’ announcement of a significant number of prisoner releases. “This is certainly good news,” González de Zárate said. “However, it has caused great anxiety among the families of detainees because no clear information has been provided about who would benefit from these measures or what their real scope might be. Moreover, the release process is very slow. Families continue to wait for further releases, even spending nights outside prison gates in the hope that they will occur. The people want the release of all political prisoners, as we bishops have repeatedly called for.”

The Virgin of hope

True hope for a weary people, however, came on 14 January with the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Divine Shepherdess, traditionally held in the Diocese of Barquisimeto in the state of Lara but embraced by the entire country.

The turnout for the procession of the nation’s most beloved Marian icon was massive, Archbishop González de Zárate recalled, despite the ongoing socio-political uncertainty.

“This,” he said, “is a clear expression of the Venezuelan people’s spiritual reserve and of how, in difficult moments like the ones we are living through, Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Mother, the Blessed Virgin, continue to be points of reference, comfort and strength for us all.”