In the run-up to the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández and Mother Carmen Rendiles, Cardinal Baltazar Porras called for reconciliation and justice. In Rome he remembered the political prisoners and warned about poverty, corruption and the militarization of power in Venezuela
On the eve of the historic canonization of Blessed José Gregorio Hernández and Mother Carmen Rendiles, Cardinal Baltazar Porras offered in Rome a reflection about the Venezuelan crisis and remembered the country’s political prisoners. During an intervention at the Pontifical Lateran University, the archbishop of Caracas also reiterated that Venezuela is going through “a morally unacceptable situation”as the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) has expressed on various occasions.
The cardinal drew a critical diagnosis of the national reality and stressed that poverty, corruption, the lack of independence of public powers and the growing militarization of power “excite violence and introduce it as part of daily life.” These factors, he warned, “do not contribute to peaceful coexistence or to overcoming the structural deficiencies of society.”
Porras insisted that the country needs to rebuild trust between citizens and institutions, while calling for solidarity and reconciliation as paths to peace.
In his message, the cardinal highlighted the figure of José Gregorio Hernández as a symbol of national unity. “José Gregorio becomes the icon that unites everyone in our plural society, beyond differences,” he stated, inviting Venezuelans to recognize in him an example of service, faith and dedication to others.
The cardinal also addressed the Venezuelan migration drama, which he described as “an open wound that demands a response based on the values of the Gospel.”
In his opinion, migration should not be seen as a burden, but as “an opportunity that providence offers us to build a more just society, a fuller democracy and a more supportive country.”
Likewise, he remembered the political prisoners, who “suffer the breakdown of the family unit and the absence of justice.” Precisely this Saturday, dozens of Venezuelan men and women gathered in Piazza del Risorgimento, in Rome, to demand the freedom of more than 800 people detained for political reasons.
The event at the Pontifical Lateran University was part of the activities prior to the canonization that will be celebrated this Sunday, October 20, in the Vatican, in a ceremony presided over by Pope Leo XIV.
With a pastoral and firm tone, Porras concluded his intervention by inviting us to “open our hearts to forgiveness and social commitment”, convinced that “only through truth, justice and fraternity will it be possible to heal the country’s wounds.”
*Read also: Venezuelans protest in Rome for the freedom of political prisoners
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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