Diplomatic Illusions Mask Rejection of Christ’s Sovereignty
Diplomatic Illusions Mask Rejection of Christ’s Sovereignty
VaticanNews portal (January 10, 2026) reports on “exploratory talks” between the United States and Venezuela to restore diplomatic relations severed in 2019. The article details a U.S. delegation’s visit following the capture of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, with discussion of reopening embassies and securing $100 billion in oil investments. Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez frames this as “defending independence,” while Exxon CEO Darren Woods expresses skepticism due to prior asset seizures. This diplomatic maneuvering epitomizes the naturalist fallacy of modern statecraft – treating nations as autonomous entities divorced from Divine Law.
Idolatry of Temporal Power Over Divine Order
The article’s exclusive focus on geopolitical calculations constitutes a sin of omission against the Kingship of Christ. Pius XI’s encyclical Quas primas (1925) declares: “Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ.” Neither government acknowledges this fundamental truth, instead perpetuating the heresy that civil authority derives legitimacy from popular will rather than God (Syllabus of Errors, Proposition 39). The very premise of “restoring relations” while ignoring both nations’ systematic persecution of Catholics – Venezuela through socialist tyranny, the U.S. through secularist persecution – reveals the bankruptcy of diplomacy untethered from eternal verities.
Economic Materialism as False Salvation
Trump’s proposed $100 billion oil investment exemplifies the modern obsession with material solutions to spiritual crises. The article treats Venezuela’s economic collapse as mere poor governance rather than divine chastisement for institutionalized socialism – condemned by Leo XIII as “sharing plunder with the wicked” (Quod apostolici muneris, 1878). Exxon’s pragmatic reluctance (“uninvestable”) underscores capitalism’s parallel error: making Mammon rather than Christ the measure of value. Both systems reject Pius XI’s warning that “no one can at the same time be a sincere Catholic and a true socialist” (Quadragesimo anno, 1931), yet the report analyzes their interaction without reference to these irreconcilable contradictions with Catholic truth.
The False Ecumenism of Secular Alliances
Rodríguez’s claim that diplomacy “defends independence” inverts Catholic teaching. The Syllabus condemns the proposition that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55). True independence resides in submission to Christ’s reign, not in bilateral agreements between apostate regimes. The article’s celebration of “practical political solutions” reflects the modernist heresy denounced by St. Pius X: “They presume to reform the Church as if she were a human institution” (Pascendi Dominici gregis, 1907). Nowhere does the report note that neither nation constitutionally acknowledges the Social Reign of Christ the King – the sine qua non for legitimate governance.
Omission as Complicity in Apostasy
Most damning is the article’s silence on Venezuela’s suppression of Catholicism – the destruction of churches, imprisonment of priests, and outlawing of traditional liturgy. This parallels the U.S. regime’s persecution through mandates violating conscience rights. By reporting diplomatic maneuvers without condemning both governments’ anti-Catholic policies, VaticanNews becomes complicit in Pius IX’s condemned error: “The Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect” (Syllabus, Proposition 24). The true Church teaches that “justice must be supported by force” (Leo XIII, Immortale Dei), including suppressing heresy and protecting Catholics.
Theological Consequences of Naturalist Statecraft
The report’s secular framing manifests the modernist error condemned in Lamentabili sane: “The Church listening cooperates with the Church teaching in defining truths” (Proposition 6). By treating nation-states as autonomous actors rather than subjects of Christ’s reign, the article implicitly denies His universal dominion. This violates the Nicene Creed’s “whose kingdom shall have no end” – a truth Pius XI called “the foundation of human society” (Quas primas). Until diplomacy begins with public acts of reparation to the Sacred Heart and consecration of nations to Christ the King, such negotiations merely “whitewash tombs” (Matthew 23:27) of regimes in rebellion against God.
Source:
US, Venezuela explore possibility of restoring relations (vaticannews.va)
Date: 10.01.2026