Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – On January 20-22, there was a meeting held for national delegates of Social Ministries with Caritas Venezuela, at the headquarters of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference in Caracas. About 60 delegates from various dioceses and archdioceses of Venezuela met to examine various issues, including the campaign "Compartir 2010", the criteria for action in times of emergency, and the Week for Peace.
At the end of the sessions, they issued a statement entitled "The Social Action of the Catholic Church in Venezuela," a copy of which was sent to Fides. The Catholic Church in Venezuela, through Caritas, expresses her deepest feelings of solidarity with the Haitian brothers, for the devastating earthquake on Tuesday, January 12, the text says. She prays to God the Father for those who lost their lives and offers a word of hope to all the wounded and the afflicted. The Bishops' Conference of Venezuela, through the Caritas network, is promoting a campaign of solidarity with our brothers in Haiti and called on all Venezuelans to offer their contribution, which will be sent to the Church of Haiti through Caritas Haiti, which is already developing a strategic plan to help people affected by the earthquake.
The second part of the document released at the end of the meeting on January 20-22 was entitled "The Voice of Caritas: Diagnosis of the human rights situation in Venezuela." This section presents a brief report on the situation of human rights in Venezuela in recent years. Signed by the President of Caritas Venezuela, Bishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala of Vigía-San Carlos del Zulia, the document outlines the national situation in a sentence: "We live in a country where there is no separation of powers or independent institutions." The document presents the deterioration of the autonomy of public powers. In practice, there is no legislative power, no judiciary power, nor is there electoral power. The other institutions of citizens...carry out all that the executive order ordains, and in the end there is only one person who decides who should be dispossessed, imprisoned, and fired from his work. In the end, this is fragile institutional status and the weak constitutional state." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 23/01/2010)
