It probably wasn't easy but Venezuela's bishops have managed to buttonhole
Pope Francis for a rundown on the facts of life in Marxist Venezuela.

At their "request," Pope Francis met Venezuela's top bishops Thursday.
Discussions centered on the country's growing political unrest against a
"cruelly" repressive government.

So it was the bishops who had to ask or else they'd go unheard.

That they even had to ask is evidence of how opaque the pope has been about
the nightmare engulfing the retrograde communist country.

"The situation is very, very grave," [Venezuelan Cardinal Jorge] Urosa
Savino told Crux Tuesday. "What we see is a people who are suffering, who
are being humiliated, and who are being cruelly repressed" by Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

Government moves - through the Supreme Justice Tribunal - to "take the
constitutional faculties from the National Assembly," while at the "same
time giving the president a series of super powers," said Urosa Savino, have
"worsened" the political crisis in the last months.

Despite a partial u-turn by the top court, the latest stream of protests
has been non-stop since April 4th. The ranks span all social classes. The
death toll numbers above 70 with the wounded in the thousands.

"The dead have been caused by the repression, created by state forces and
civilian groups armed by the government acting to strengthen government
repression, which is something criminal," said Cardinal Urosa Savino.

Poverty, unrest, impunity, corruption, and widespread shortages in food,
electricity, medicine, and basic goods now define what had once been one of
the richest countries in Latin America. Polls show that 80% of the
population wants Maduro out through new presidential elections.

Of course hearing this can't be a pleasure for Pope Francis. In fact, it
might be an embarassment - he's endorsed all of the Marxist ideas that have
brought the Venezuelan nation to its knees and now is being called on to
denounce it.

But so far, instead of speaking out and cutting his losses, the pope has
naively called for 'dialogue' -- with the obvious results.

Pope Francis has repeatedly called for "negotiated solutions" to end the
"serious humanitarian, social, political and economic crisis" Venezuelans
are suffering.

Vatican supported talks last year broke down because "the government has
used the legitimate instrument of dialogue, plain and simple, to postpone
solving problems, to avoid having to take action against their own
intentions," said Urosa Savino. "And that, of course, is unacceptable," he
emphasized.

But it's not as if the pope hasn't been told what is going on. As I wrote
back in 2015, the Venezuelan bishops have been warning about the problem for
years:

In a refreshingly powerful and direct statement, Venezuela's bishops
Monday blamed "Marxist socialism" and "communism" by name for the horrors
and chaos gripping their country, according to a story in El Universal.

The bishops said the long lines of people trying to buy food and other
basic necessities and the constant rise in prices are the result of the
government's decision to "impose a political-economic system of socialist,
Marxist or communist," which is "totalitarian and centralist" and
"undermines the freedom and rights of individuals and associations."

The Venezuelan bishops specifically stated that the private sector was
critical for the well being of the country. The document, read by Monsignor
Diego Padron in Spanish, said the country needs "a new entrepreneurial
spirit with audacity and creativity."

Not wanting to create some sort of schism, the Venezuelan bishops have
tended to defend the pope and have stated he is fully informed about the
scope of the problem. They have even tried to de-ideologize the problem,
probably to take the heat off the pope's well known friendliness to Marxism
in a bid to win his support.

Pope Francis is "very close to the suffering" of Venezuelans and fully
"trusts" the country's top bishops, said Venezuelan Episcopal Conference
(CEV) President Archbishop Diego Padrón Sánchez of Cumaná.

His Holiness is "very well informed about the situation," Padrón Sánchez
said after the CEV's audience with the Pope on Thursday. "We have his full
trust" and "support," there is "no distance" between him and the CEV,
reported Crux.

Talks between the Pope and the six bishops - among whom also included
Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas and Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo
of Mérida - focused on a "direct, crude, realistic view" of what Venezuelans
are "going through" under President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

"In Venezuela, there is no longer an ideological conflict between right
and left or between 'patriots' and 'escualidos'," said their letter to the
Pope. The "struggle" is "between a dictatorship - a self-referential
government that serves only its own interests - and a people that cries out
for freedom and anxiously seeks - at the risk of the lives of the
young -food, medicine, security, work and fair elections, full liberties,
and autonomous public powers that put the common good and social peace
first."

In their letter, they even called the problem Marxist, which is what it is:

The letter to the Pope Thurday stated, the CEV [Venezuelan bishops group]
"categorically rejects" this Constituent Assembly. It "will be imposed by
force, and its results will be the constitutionalization of a military,
Marxist-socialist and communist dictatorship."

Moreover, "it will leave the current government in power, annul
established public powers, particularly of the current National Assembly;
increase persecution and exile of opponents of the dominant political
system; and expand facilities for corruption."

But the pope himself still needs to start speaking out about this man-caused
Marxist nightmare. He hasn't. The record of the meeting was listed in the
Vatican bulletin but no comment was made. The question is, when will he
start speaking out? Right now, Maduro is busy claiming the pope is in his
tree. Vatican history shows that tyrants who claim that have a bad way of
coming into their comeuppances for such political cover. But thus far, the
pope has done nothing to disabuse the tyrant of his transparent use of the
pope as political cover.

Maybe the pope will get tired of this and finally come out and denounce
Maduro and his communist tyranny plan. But so far he hasn't. Can the Marxist
ideal really be that strong in a pope who has no interest in its inevitable
outcome? So far, this is how it looks. The pope needs to get busy blasting
these Marxist monsters whose only legacy is poverty, oppression, corruption
and destruction.

On Monday, June 12, 2017 at 11:07:30 AM UTC-7, BurfordTJustice wrote:
It probably wasn't easy but Venezuela's bishops have managed to buttonhole
Pope Francis for a rundown on the facts of life in Marxist Venezuela.

At their "request," Pope Francis met Venezuela's top bishops Thursday.
Discussions centered on the country's growing political unrest against a
"cruelly" repressive government.

So it was the bishops who had to ask or else they'd go unheard.

That they even had to ask is evidence of how opaque the pope has been about
the nightmare engulfing the retrograde communist country.

"The situation is very, very grave," [Venezuelan Cardinal Jorge] Urosa
Savino told Crux Tuesday. "What we see is a people who are suffering, who
are being humiliated, and who are being cruelly repressed" by Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

Government moves - through the Supreme Justice Tribunal - to "take the
constitutional faculties from the National Assembly," while at the "same
time giving the president a series of super powers," said Urosa Savino, have
"worsened" the political crisis in the last months.

Despite a partial u-turn by the top court, the latest stream of protests
has been non-stop since April 4th. The ranks span all social classes. The
death toll numbers above 70 with the wounded in the thousands.

"The dead have been caused by the repression, created by state forces and
civilian groups armed by the government acting to strengthen government
repression, which is something criminal," said Cardinal Urosa Savino.

Poverty, unrest, impunity, corruption, and widespread shortages in food,
electricity, medicine, and basic goods now define what had once been one of
the richest countries in Latin America. Polls show that 80% of the
population wants Maduro out through new presidential elections.

Of course hearing this can't be a pleasure for Pope Francis. In fact, it
might be an embarassment - he's endorsed all of the Marxist ideas that have
brought the Venezuelan nation to its knees and now is being called on to
denounce it.

But so far, instead of speaking out and cutting his losses, the pope has
naively called for 'dialogue' -- with the obvious results.

Pope Francis has repeatedly called for "negotiated solutions" to end the
"serious humanitarian, social, political and economic crisis" Venezuelans
are suffering.

Vatican supported talks last year broke down because "the government has
used the legitimate instrument of dialogue, plain and simple, to postpone
solving problems, to avoid having to take action against their own
intentions," said Urosa Savino. "And that, of course, is unacceptable," he
emphasized.

But it's not as if the pope hasn't been told what is going on. As I wrote
back in 2015, the Venezuelan bishops have been warning about the problem for
years:

In a refreshingly powerful and direct statement, Venezuela's bishops
Monday blamed "Marxist socialism" and "communism" by name for the horrors
and chaos gripping their country, according to a story in El Universal.

The bishops said the long lines of people trying to buy food and other
basic necessities and the constant rise in prices are the result of the
government's decision to "impose a political-economic system of socialist,
Marxist or communist," which is "totalitarian and centralist" and
"undermines the freedom and rights of individuals and associations."

The Venezuelan bishops specifically stated that the private sector was
critical for the well being of the country. The document, read by Monsignor
Diego Padron in Spanish, said the country needs "a new entrepreneurial
spirit with audacity and creativity."

Not wanting to create some sort of schism, the Venezuelan bishops have
tended to defend the pope and have stated he is fully informed about the
scope of the problem. They have even tried to de-ideologize the problem,
probably to take the heat off the pope's well known friendliness to Marxism
in a bid to win his support.

Pope Francis is "very close to the suffering" of Venezuelans and fully
"trusts" the country's top bishops, said Venezuelan Episcopal Conference
(CEV) President Archbishop Diego Padrón Sánchez of Cumaná.

His Holiness is "very well informed about the situation," Padrón Sánchez
said after the CEV's audience with the Pope on Thursday. "We have his full
trust" and "support," there is "no distance" between him and the CEV,
reported Crux.

Talks between the Pope and the six bishops - among whom also included
Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas and Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo
of Mérida - focused on a "direct, crude, realistic view" of what Venezuelans
are "going through" under President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

"In Venezuela, there is no longer an ideological conflict between right
and left or between 'patriots' and 'escualidos'," said their letter to the
Pope. The "struggle" is "between a dictatorship - a self-referential
government that serves only its own interests - and a people that cries out
for freedom and anxiously seeks - at the risk of the lives of the
young -food, medicine, security, work and fair elections, full liberties,
and autonomous public powers that put the common good and social peace
first."

In their letter, they even called the problem Marxist, which is what it is:

The letter to the Pope Thurday stated, the CEV [Venezuelan bishops group]
"categorically rejects" this Constituent Assembly. It "will be imposed by
force, and its results will be the constitutionalization of a military,
Marxist-socialist and communist dictatorship."

Moreover, "it will leave the current government in power, annul
established public powers, particularly of the current National Assembly;
increase persecution and exile of opponents of the dominant political
system; and expand facilities for corruption."

But the pope himself still needs to start speaking out about this man-caused
Marxist nightmare. He hasn't. The record of the meeting was listed in the
Vatican bulletin but no comment was made. The question is, when will he
start speaking out? Right now, Maduro is busy claiming the pope is in his
tree. Vatican history shows that tyrants who claim that have a bad way of
coming into their comeuppances for such political cover. But thus far, the
pope has done nothing to disabuse the tyrant of his transparent use of the
pope as political cover.

Maybe the pope will get tired of this and finally come out and denounce
Maduro and his communist tyranny plan. But so far he hasn't. Can the Marxist
ideal really be that strong in a pope who has no interest in its inevitable
outcome? So far, this is how it looks. The pope needs to get busy blasting
these Marxist monsters whose only legacy is poverty, oppression, corruption
and destruction.

x