Cardinal Parolin to Venezuela: 'Open unjust prisons…set the oppressed free'
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Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin criticized the Venezuelan regime at an Oct. 20 thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of the first two Venezuelan saints, calling the country to “open the unjust prisons” and build “respect for human rights.”
Parolin’s homily was one of the strongest indictments of the Venezuelan regime by a Vatican official in years, and seems to signal a clear change of public stance in the Vatican’s policy on Venezuela.
With the Venezuelan official delegation present in the front row, Parolin commented that the two new Venezuelan saints, José Gregorio Hernández and Madre Carmen Rendiles Martínez, offer a witness of what it means “to love truly and with deeds.”
“Only in this way, beloved Venezuela, will you pass from death to life. Only in this way, beloved Venezuela, will your light shine in the darkness and your darkness become noon. Listen to the words of the Lord, who calls you to open unjust prisons, to break the chains of oppression, to set the oppressed free, to break all chains,” Parolin said.
“Only in this way, dear Venezuela, will you be able to respond to your vocation of peace, if you build it on the foundations of justice, truth, freedom, and love; of respect for human rights; by creating spaces for encounter and democratic coexistence, by letting what unites prevail over what divides, by seeking the means and opportunities to find common solutions to the great problems that affect you, by making the common good the goal of all public activity,” he continued.
The cardinal’s remarks are a sharp contrast to the Vatican’s approach toward Venezuela in recent years.
While the Vatican had criticized the Venezuelan regime in the past, it has generally done so briefly or indirectly, such as when Pope Francis was asked about the regime in a 2024 press conference and said that “dictatorships end badly.”
One of the few times in which the Vatican has issued a direct criticism of the regime was in 2016, when the Holy See sent a letter to the Venezuelan government after a negotiation between the regime and the opposition, mediated by the Vatican, collapsed.
In the letter, the Vatican criticized the government’s “aggressive, violent, and insincere rhetoric.”
Mostly, however, the Vatican has preferred a strategic silence against the regime in recent years, while supporting the Venezuelan bishops in leading the charge in defending human rights in the country.
After decades of political repression in Venezuela, the Catholic Church remains one of the few local institutions that is relatively free to criticize the country’s political regime. The Church enjoys widespread public trust in Venezuela, and the Maduro regime is typically careful to avoid pushing back against the hierarchy with much force.
For years, the bishops’ conference took strong public stances against human rights violations and the dire economic situation of the country.
While Pope Francis mostly remained silent about the country, he once said that “my voice …resounds in the voice of the Venezuelan bishops,” a sentiment which encouraged the country’s prelates to continue speaking out against the regime.
However, after the contentious presidential election in 2024, and the radical crackdown on dissent that followed it, most Venezuelan bishops seemed to determine that silence was the most prudent course of action.
This weekend’s canonizations mark a notable turning point in rhetoric from both the Vatican and the local bishops.
A few days before the canonization, the Venezuelan bishops published a pastoral letter in which they called for the release of the more than 800 political prisoners in the country.
And in an event commemorating the canonizations, Cardinal Baltazar Porras, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, said that the situation in Venezuela was “morally unacceptable [including] the growth of poverty, militarization as a form of government to incite violence, corruption, and lack of autonomy of public powers, and the disrespect of the people’s will.”
But an incident during that event highlighted criticism Venezuelan leaders face over human rights. As The Pillar asked questions of the Vatican’s Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, a Venezuelan man who did not identify himself interrupted the interview, insisting that questions pertaining to the Venezuelan government were not acceptable, shoving The Pillar’s reporter and grabbing a recorder from his hand. After order was restored, Peña Parra resumed answering questions.
The Venezuelan regime, for its part, is funding and organizing major events in the country to celebrate the canonizations.
Carmen Meléndez, mayor of Caracas and head of the official Venezuelan delegation at the canonizations, said in a Saturday interview that the delegation had an audience with the pope on Monday.
However, such a meeting never appeared in the Vatican’s bulletin, nor have Venezuelan authorities confirmed that the meeting took place.
It is unclear whether the meeting was ever scheduled in the first place, and whether it was cancelled, postponed, or took place in private.
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