Given reactions to Cardinal Urosa’s words, the Archdiocese of Caracas published extracts of his homily “to enlighten the faithful on the divinity of Christ and to clarify the confusion created by recent affirmations of a religious nature about deceased President Hugo Chavez.»

«He who was taken to death for proclaiming his divinity (John 5:18; 10:33), he who suffered the unspeakable torment of the cross, after being subjected to tortures and cruel and inhuman mistreatment, is not any person, he was not a simple leader or great man of humanity, he was not a social activist. No, my dear brethren, Jesus of Nazareth is much more. He is God himself made man, who was sent by our loving heavenly Father to reveal to us the immensity of his love, and to show us the way of a serene, peaceable, upright, holy and happy life so that, free from sin and from every sort of evil and ignorance, we can attain to the happiness of eternal salvation,” said Cardinal Urosa.

The post Venezuelan Cardinal Calls for Halt to Chavez Worship appeared first on ZENIT - English.

Nicolas Maduro, Vice-President of Venezuela, who was appointed personally by the deceased President to succeed him and who will call elections in 30 days, announced the Venezuelan leader’s death yesterday afternoon. President Chavez, 58, died of cancer at 4:25 pm in the Military Hospital of Caracas.

“Cardinal Urosa, archbishop of Caracas, will celebrate a solemn funeral Mass in Rome at a date and place to be announced shortly. All Venezuelans who wish to do so, are invited to attend the religious ceremony to pray for the eternal rest of President Chavez,” the communique stated

The cardinal expressed “his condolences” to the deceased President’s family and urged that, given his death, “the mechanisms provided in the Constitution be applied,” and that all sectors foster “the calm and harmony of the population.”

For his part, hours earlier the secretary general of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, auxiliary Bishop Jesus Gonzalez de Zarate of Caracas, made an appeal for “national unity” on addressing the “painful event” of the President’s death. “At this time, let us all express are best sentiments,” said the prelate in a phone interview to the television program “Hello Citizen,” of the local channel Globovision. The bishop then reminded that “death is not the end of our life; death opens the way to a fully happy life, with God our Father.”

On several occasions in the past, the bishops of Venezuela appealed to the people for prayers for the President.

In February, at the beginning of Lent, Cardinal Urosa encouraged the faithful to pray for Chavez’s recovery. “God wants our prayer to be more alive and for this year the Church proposes reading the Word of God. But, in addition, we must attend Holy Mass which is the memorial of the glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he said on that occasion.

The Catholic Church in Venezuela also prayed for peace, calm and harmony in the country after the sad news. “I have just heard the sad news of the death of the President of the Republic, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, for whom I pray to the Lord for his soul’s eternal rest,” Cardinal Urosa said from Rome to the State channel Vale TV.

After sending his condolences to the family, friends and followers of the President, cardinal Urosa supported the “appeal for peace and calm and the rejection of violence” made by the government. “And I pray that good sense and harmony will reign in the country over the coming days,” he said.

For his part, Archbishop Diego Padron, president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), said in statements on radio 780 AM: “The CEV joins the Venezuelan government and State in sharing this painful situation of the death of the President of the Republic and joins all the Venezuelan people because he was the President of all Venezuelans.”

He also called for calm in the population. “The CEV is ready to cooperate so that national life can unfold with great good sense, serenity and calm in a situation that is difficult to manage. We call on the Venezuelan people to maintain, as they have up to now, good sense and good conduct.”

He avoided being specific about who should be Venezuela’s interim President. “All this is established in the Constitution and up to now we haven’t witnessed any conflicts. The Constitution has already pointed out the way,” he specified.

The Venezuelan government will hold a State funeral in memory of the deceased President Hugo Chavez on Friday, March 8, informed on Tuesday night the Vice-President and Foreign Minister, Elias Jaua, who also declared seven days of official mourning.

The ceremony will be held at 10:00 am (local time) at Caracas’ Military Academy, in the same place where the funeral chapel will be installed today. The President’s body will be taken there from the hospital where he spent the last two weeks. The funeral cortege will go through the streets of the Venezuelan capital in what is expected to be attended by many.

The post Venezuelan Cardinal Will Offer Mass for Deceased President appeared first on ZENIT - English.

They arrived by bus, car and train and marched through the streets of Paris in protest against President François Hollande’s law that proposes to open the institution of marriage to all sorts of unions, and to allow the adoption of children by homosexual couples. The protests began in three points of Paris; it paralyzed traffic and closed metro stations for hours.

The French president’s proposal has become increasingly unpopular in France and fell by 15% in public opinion over six months. France is divided but opposition to same-sex «marriage» is gaining ground: around 50% of French people favor equating homosexual unions with marriage, as opposed to 65% who supported it in August, according to the Associated Press. 

Antoine Renard, president of the Associations of French Catholic Families and of the European Federation of Catholic Families’ Associations, lamented the lack of will to listen to the civil society: «I think our country needs to keep itself essentially united to overcome the consequences of the economic and social crisis, but instead of making an effort for unity, our government fosters an issue that is clearly dividing our people. At the beginning of his presidential mandate, Hollande committed himself to justice and to young people.»

«On behalf of the families our organization represents, I appeal firmly to President Hollande to withdraw the proposed law in the name of justice for all, especially for young people,» stressed Renard who also explained that «children are subjects with rights, and their rights are excluded in the present proposal, a proposal that, on the contrary, inverts the hierarchy of rights: instead of taking into account the higher interest of the child, this project [of Hollande] presents a ‘right to a child.'»

On the eve of the protest, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois of Paris analyzed the situation in France in statements on Notre Dame Radio: The Manif pour tous, he said, is not a «religious phenomenon opposed to the government» but something larger: «We are before an opinion that wants to be made known, to make the government listen.»

«It’s not the Church against government»

In his statements, the French cardinal affirmed: «I hope that Catholics will behave as Catholics, that they exercise their citizen’s right to express their opinion, and that they do so collectively through a protest. This draft law merits a more serene and better organized debate. This has not been the government response, and we have found it necessary to seek other ways to express points of view. This protest is one of the means to express the profound disagreement of a certain number of French people in regard to this draft law. I rejoice that we are in a Republic in which there is the faculty and the freedom to express one’s opinions, within, of course, democratic respect, that is, without aggressiveness, without hatred and without violent manifestation, of course, or of contempt toward anyone.»

In regard to the possibility that there were bishops among the protesters and his own presence, the cardinal pointed out: «I still don’t know how, but I’ll do something. What was very clear about what we said at the end of our meeting with the President of the Republic — we, that is the representatives of the different religions — is that we’re not before a religious phenomenon opposed to the government. We are before an opinion that has something to make known, and that religions weren’t the instigators or organizers of this protest, in which members of our different religions take part according to their conviction and according to the use they make of the means of expression. I am happy to know that many Catholics have mobilized but this isn’t a protest of the Church against the government.»

It was learned a few days ago that an amendment on medically assisted procreation was withdrawn from the draft law. In this connection, Cardinal Vingt-Trois said: «One must not allow oneself to be manipulated by the effects of the announcement. […] If the Socialist Party has given up presenting this amendment, it’s not by force that it gives it up totally but because it thinks it can have it approved better another way, as the issue remains intact. That the amendment was withdrawn does not mean that the transformation of marriage has also been abandoned.»

Global protests

Numerous French people who reside in Rome protested before the French Embassy «in defense of the natural family made up of one man and one woman, of natural filiation and of the child’s right to be raised by a father and a mother.»

A group of French parents calling themselves «La Manif Pour Tous Italie» — independent, a-political and a-confessional — called a protest simultaneously with the great manifestation of Paris.

French people of Naples, Florence and Milan took part. At the end of the event, they handed a letter addressed to the president of the French Republic requesting the withdrawal of the draft law.

The post French Proposal for Same-Sex 'Marriage' Brings Global Protest appeared first on ZENIT - English.

In the opening ceremony of the Ordinary Assembly, the Episcopal Conference’s president, Archbishop Diego Padrón, said that the «the country’s religious picture suffers from the same weakening of the faith as other countries of Latin America.» Therefore, he insisted on the obligation to «not stay in isolated and occasional activities but to structure and, above all, to articulate pastoral plans that have at their heart a bringing together of the reality and the Gospel that will lead to the growth of the Christian faith and its projection in our society.»

Archbishop Padrón noted that «in our pastoral action we need to pay more attention to the guidelines and norms of the Plenary Council, giving priority to catechesis as a structure of initiation and maturation of the faith of the Christian community, especially of adults. And this general guideline of the Plenary Council call, as a first step, to establish in every diocese and parish a specific time for the first missionary proclamation or kerygma, which has as its aim the call to faith and conversion and, as the second step, to implement in every parish the catechesis for baptized adults who need to renew their faith, through itineraries inspired in the catechumenal process.»

Over the next few days the bishops will continue reflecting on these topics, especially on the initiatives of the Year of Faith, the riches of the Second Vatican Council, the works for the New Evangelization, without neglecting the political and social picture of Venezuela.

A cordial aspect was lived on Monday , January 7, when the members of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference  received with applause and greeting the new auxiliary bishop of Maracaibo, Bishop ÁngelFrancisco Caraballo Fermin. His appointment was made public on November 29 of last year, when the Apostolic Nunciature in Venezuela made Pope Benedict XVI’s decision known.

Concern over the Political Situation

At the close of yesterday’s session, it was discovered that Venezuela’s Supreme Court resolved that it is not necessary for President Hugo Chavez to be sworn in tomorrow for his new mandate, because he is a «re-elected» President.

«Despite the fact that on January 10 a new Constitutional period begins, a new taking of office is not necessary as regards President Hugo Chavez given his condition of re-elected President,» said Luisa Estella Morales, president of the Supreme Court, in a public statement.

The Supreme Court stated that the present government will be able to continue to exercise its functions beyond January 10, until President Hugo Chavez can take the oath formally.

«The Executive Power, constituted by the President, Vice-President, Ministers and other organs and officials of the Administration will continue to exercise their functions based completely on the principle of administrative continuity,» said the Supreme Court’s president.

Moreover, the vice-president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, confirmed on Tuesday that the head of State would be unable to attend the ceremony to take office and added that he would do so later before the Supreme Court, in keeping with article 231 of the Constitution.

In addition the Venezuelan Parliament gave Chavez a «blank check» by granting him «all the time needed to attend to his illness and return to Venezuela,» when the reason for his absence «has disappeared.»

The reading of Chavez’s absence was greeted with jeers by deputies of the Opposition, while deputies who support him shouted «Viva Chavez!»

Moreover, Diosdado Cabello responded to accusations that the Cuban government is influencing decisions on Chavez’s succession. The president of the National Assembly said there is a «fraternity» with the Caribbean Island but that theories of influence are groundless.

Serious Risk of Instability

«It is necessary that the authorities inform clearly and truthfully on the state and evolution of the President’s health, as it is a topic of public interest given the office he holds,» said the Venezuelan Episcopate, in a communique signed by the archbishops and bishops of the country. «The report of a medical committee made up of well-known Venezuelan professionals would dispel uncertainties,» added the communique.

The prelates stated that Chavez’s health «has generated uneasiness in the whole of the Venezuelan population» and they expressed their solidarity with the President and his family in this difficult moment of illness.

In regard to the situation created by the President’s absence from Thursday’s investiture ceremony, the bishops appealed for respect of the Constitutional normative. «We appeal to all public powers and to the citizenry in general to respect scrupulously the Constitutional normative, as stability and peace depend on respect for the State of Law,» the communique stated.

«An accommodating interpretation of the Constitution to achieve a political objective is morally unacceptable,» they stressed.

In this connection, they said that «frank, open and respectful» dialogue, «that has as its objective total adherence to the Constitution and the defense of the sovereignty of Venezuela, must continue to be the way to surmount the many obstacles that affect» the citizenry’s coexistence, and which could lead the country «to a more profound crisis.»

The bishops took advantage of the opportunity to question «the lack of conditions of equity in the unfolding of the campaign» in the two electoral processes of last year, including the presidential process of October 7, which in their judgment poses «the need for revision and absolute impartiality of the electoral system.»

In addition, they observed «with concern» that in the collection of laws, emphasis is placed on their «ideological character» and that concepts are introduced such as Socialism and Communal State not contemplated in the Constitutional text.»

«The politico-territorial organization cannot be built on a restrictive ideology, because it would attempt against the concept of the plural State, not excluding and democratic, consecrated by the Constitution,» they added.

Prayers and Masses for Chavez

Hugo Chavez’s serious illness has caused a curious change in religious manifestations in the country. Although Chavez has always said he is a believer, he has attacked members of the Church, right and left, demonizing some high ecclesial offices, and now numerous Masses and prayers are being held for the President’s health.

President Chavez has been in a hospital in Cuba since December 11 when he was operated again for cancer in the pelvic area, although there has been no official information on its nature. According to last Thursday’s government report, the 58-year-old President is suffering from «respiratory insufficiency,» after having had a «severe lung infection,» following his fourth operation.

In fact, Venezuela has very competent medical professionals so that it seems a further grievance that Chavez goes repeatedly to the Caribbean Island to be operated on and cured upon the invitation of his friend, Fidel Castro.

Henrique Capriles, leader of the Venezuelan Opposition, exhorted the Supreme Court of Justice to give its decision as to the whether or not the taking of office could be postponed, something it has now done.

Capriles, governor of the state of Miranda and former presidential candidate of the Opposition, asked that the decision be made before January 10. According to Capriles, the Constitution is clear in stating that the present presidential period ends on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the leader of the Opposition also asked the heads of State of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia not to t
ake part in the «game of a political party,» in reference to the decision of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela that the present government continues functioning after January 10.

The Opposition bloc published a letter it sent the day before to the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, in which it described the country’s political situation given Chavez’s health problems. The letter also stated that if on January 10 the oath of office is not taken by the President elect, and the Constitutional dispositions regarding the temporal absence of the President are not activated, «a grave violation of the Constitutional order will have been consummated in Venezuela which will affect the essence of democracy.»

The post Venezuelan Bishops Concerned About Weakening Faith in the Country appeared first on ZENIT - English.