The False Hope of Earthly Liberation Without Christ the King
Catholic News Agency reports on reactions to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, featuring statements from exiled Nicaraguan diplomat Arturo McFields and researcher Martha Patricia Molina. McFields claims “winds of hope are blowing” for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, asserting that “no dictatorship is eternal.” Molina argues for changes in international law to permit military interventions against “criminal dictatorships.” The article concludes with exiled Managua auxiliary “bishop” Silvio Báez comparing modern tyrants to Herod, claiming they “end up condemned by God and by history.” This revolutionary narrative reduces salvation history to political liberation, ignoring the social kingship of Christ (Pius XI, Quas Primas) as the only foundation for true social order.
The Naturalist Fallacy of Political Messianism
The article’s central error lies in its complete severance of temporal affairs from their supernatural end. McFields declares that “the most important thing for a people is their faith in God,” yet reduces this faith to a psychological crutch rather than the foundation of social order. Nowhere does he reference Christ’s imperative: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The Syllabus of Errors explicitly condemns the notion that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55), yet this entire analysis operates within that condemned framework.
When Molina demands that “international laws must change and adapt to reality to allow this type of intervention against perpetrators of crimes against humanity,” she embraces the revolutionary error denounced by Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos: the belief that “liberty of conscience” constitutes man’s fundamental right. True Catholic doctrine holds that nations exist to facilitate man’s supernatural end, not merely to guarantee earthly security. Pius IX’s Quanta Cura condemns as “false and absurd, or rather mad” the idea that “liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right.”
The Herodian Silence About Christ’s Social Reign
Nowhere does the article mention the consecration of nations to Christ the King or the necessity of Catholic social order. McFields’ comparison of fallen dictatorships—Syria, Bolivia, Venezuela—falsely implies that their replacements constitute improvement when devoid of Catholic principles. As Pius XI taught in Quas Primas: “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.” The article’s celebration of Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces constitutes implicit endorsement of Americanist heresy condemned by Leo XIII in Testem Benevolentiae—the notion that Church-state separation produces superior societies.
Báez’s homily proves particularly insidious when stating: “only God is to be worshipped; it gives us the strength never to kneel down or be subservient to any idol or power of this world.” This smuggles in the Vatican II heresy of religious liberty by implication, suggesting tyrannical regimes constitute the only obstacle to true worship. The true Catholic doctrine remains Pius IX’s condemnation in the Syllabus (Error 77): “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.”
The Masonic Roots of Revolutionary Messianism
The article’s revolutionary fervor exposes its ideological parentage in Enlightenment anti-Catholicism. When McFields celebrates seeing “powerful figures who thought they were gods or demigods are now brought to their knees,” he channels Rousseau’s social contract theory rather than Davidic kingship. The Syllabus condemns this error directly: “the State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits” (Error 39). Nowhere do these commentators demand what Leo XIII prescribed in Immortale Dei: “States ought to have a public cult and take care to honor God, not in any way they please, but in the way God Himself has shown He wants to be honored.”
Molina’s call for revised international law reveals the modernist tendency condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane: “Truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him” (Error 58). True Catholic international law derives from Christ’s universal kingship, not mutable geopolitical interests. As Pius XII taught in Summi Pontificatus: “In rejecting the doctrine of the mystic Head of the Church, they [modern states] deprive the authority of rulers of its highest splendor and force them to descend to the low level of those who wield power in unstable human fashion.”
The Abandoned Mission of Catholic Resistance
Most damningly, the article ignores the only legitimate response to tyranny prescribed by Catholic tradition: the conversion of rulers and nations to the Social Reign of Christ the King. Instead of urging prayer for Maduro’s conversion or Venezuela’s consecration to the Sacred Heart, these commentators celebrate his humiliation. They forget St. Paul’s command: “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
The true Catholic response to tyranny appears in the Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus prescribed by Pius XI: “Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee… Grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.” Until this consecration occurs, no political liberation—whether through invasion, sanctions, or revolution—can produce lasting peace. As the Divine Savior warned: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” (Luke 11:17). A world rejecting Christ’s kingship remains perpetually divided against itself.
Conclusion: The Unspeakable Omission
The article’s gravest sin lies in its silence about Our Lady’s Fatima message—not because those disputed apparitions merit credence, but because even their alleged warnings about Russia’s errors prove prophetic. The commentators ignore how Marxist revolutions stem from collective apostasy, preferring instead to treat symptoms rather than the spiritual disease. True liberation comes only through what Pius IX termed in Qui Pluribus “the effective direction of the sacred magisterium of the Church,” not through geopolitical power shifts. Until Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba embrace their vocation as confessional Catholic states, no earthly liberation can save them—a truth this revolutionary commentary dare not speak.
Source:
After Maduro’s capture, there’s hope for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, leader says (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 08.01.2026