VENEZUELA: The Pope declares War on Mammon

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Marquez

CARACAS, Jan 26 1996 (IPS) - Pope John Paul II will visit Venezuela from Feb. 9 to 11 to preach on the “harmful consequences of neoliberalism” and the worship of “the God of money,” according to information from the local Catholic hierarchy.

“It seems there is one idol bigger than any other in Latin America, the God of money and power,” said Archbishop of the south eastern city of Merida, Baltazar Porras, organiser of the Pope’s visit.

“One of the most harmful consequences of neoliberalism, is the lack of respect for anything which gets in the way of making money,” said the Church. “The quest for easy money supports narcotraffic and the international arms trade.”

During the Pope’s first visit to Venezuela in 1985, Porras was a mere cog in the machine, but now he is one of the leading episcopal figures making increasingly harsh criticisms of the Government in recent years.

Porras said the more critical stance of the clergy comes as a result of it being “more involved in the nation’s problems” whereas the Church which received the Pope in 1985 had a “lax image out of time.”

The church is also taking notice of “deep social change in the world, and in the democratic parameters, with a indefined religious resurgence which affects us.”

Another aspect indicated by Porras was the proliferation of sects and the coronation of the “God of money” playing the role of “the Trojan horse of the most advanced societies, with dangerous side effects like the spread of AIDS, alcoholism and psychic maladjustments.”

Porras also stated that the nation had been better led during the 1985 visit under Social Democrat leader Jaime Lusinchi, before the current social crisis bit deep.

The current President, Rafael Caldera, an 80 year-old Social Christian, is entering the third year of his administration surrounded by crisis, with economic recession, high inflation, increasing unemployment and rapid currency devaluation.

Caldera has been strongly supported by the Catholic Church throughout his long political career, and he met with bishops in Rome when the Pope beatified the Maria de San Jose, the first Venezuelan to receive the honour.

The highlight of the Pope’s visit will be the inauguration of the chapel of the Virgin of Coromoto, the patron saint of Venezuela, in a spot on the plains in the centre-west of the country, where Maria appeared to an indigenous leader in 1652.

The rest of his visit will take place in Caracas, with a mass for a million people, a large meeting with youth and other social leaders, the bishops and Caldera.

Also, upon his arrival in Caracas, the Pope will view the Reten de Catia, the most terrible prison in the country, in order to bless the 2,300 prisoners.

“The Pope always makes some contact with the crude reality,” said Porras.

Minister of Information, Fernando Egana, said the government did not consider the gesture as a criticism but “the recognition of a situation which must be changed,” assuring that “the relations between the government and the Catholic Church are very good.”

Before arriving in Venezuela, Pope John Paul II will visit Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, from Feb. 5 to 9, and he will end this 69th tour returning to Rome from Caracas.