U.S. Military Adventurism Masquerading as “Law Enforcement” in Venezuela

Catholic News Agency reports on January 12, 2026 that former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr defended the military capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as “completely legitimate under U.S. law.” The article details Barr’s justification based on alleged drug trafficking activities and threats to U.S. interests, while noting antipope Leo XIV’s vague call for “safeguarding the country’s sovereignty.” This represents the triumph of Machiavellian statecraft over Catholic social order.

The Pagan Cult of State Omnipotence

Barr’s legal arguments expose the heresy of state absolutism condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors: “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits” (Proposition 39). By claiming the U.S. president has unilateral authority to depose foreign leaders based on subjective threat assessments, Barr embraces the revolutionary error that civil power originates from itself rather than God.

“In my mind, there’s no question that the United States, under our Constitution, had the right to deal with the threat posed by the cocaine trafficking…”

This reduction of justice to utilitarian calculations (finis operantis) directly contradicts the Catholic teaching that “the law of nations is founded on the eternal law of God” (St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei). Neither the U.S. Constitution nor Barr’s appeals to the 1989 Noriega precedent constitute legitimate moral frameworks when they ignore the Kingship of Christ over nations.

The Bankruptcy of Conciliar “Sovereignty” Rhetoric

The article notes that antipope Leo XIV called for “safeguarding the country’s sovereignty” and respecting Venezuela’s “rule of law.” This empty diplomatic formula demonstrates the conciliar sect’s abandonment of Catholic integralism. True papal teaching, as expressed in Pius XI’s Quas Primas, demands that nations recognize Christ’s reign: “Rulers of states must understand that unless they show public veneration and obedience to Christ’s kingship, they cannot maintain their authority inviolate nor contribute to their nation’s true happiness.”

Barr correctly mocks this false sovereignty concept when stating: “We’re dealing here with a regime that overturned the results of a free election…” Yet he replaces it with equally godless democratic absolutism rather than Catholic monarchy. Both positions flow from the same modernist rejection of Regnum Christi.

Just War Theory Reduced to Police Action

The justification for military action rests entirely on naturalistic premises – drug trafficking, migration crises, and geopolitical competition with China/Russia. Missing is any reference to the just war criteria articulated by St. Augustine and codified in canon law:

No competent authority: The U.S. president lacks jurisdiction over Venezuela
No just cause: Mere economic interests don’t justify invasion
No right intention: The operation serves secular nationalism, not restoration of Catholic order

Pius XII condemned such interventions in his 1956 address to military jurists: “When war is made on a foreign country for the sole reason of forestalling a possible attack, this can be qualified as aggression.” The aerial strikes killing Venezuelan civilians constitute murder under the Fifth Commandment.

The False Dichotomy of Socialist Tyrants vs. Democratic Saviors

The article uncritically parrots Barr’s framing that replacing Maduro with U.S.-backed alternatives will solve Venezuela’s crises. This ignores the Church’s perennial teaching that both communism and liberal capitalism are “equally contrary to the will of God and the welfare of human society” (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris). No mention is made of restoring Venezuela’s Catholic heritage or outlawing blasphemy/abortion – the only true solutions to national decay.

The reference to Venezuelan bishops welcoming Maduro’s removal proves nothing, as post-conciliar “bishops” have long abandoned their duty to “denounce injustice even at the cost of martyrdom” (Pius XI, Firmissimam Constantiam). Their political calculations carry no doctrinal weight.

Conclusion: Naturalism as State Religion

This military intervention exemplifies the “cult of man” denounced in Pascendi – where human laws replace divine commandments, and national interests supersede eternal truths. Until nations submit to Christ the King through consecration and public worship, such imperialist violence will continue. As Pope Leo XIII warned in Immortale Dei: “When the State refuses to acknowledge God, it necessarily falls into tyranny over its citizens and betrayal of its divine mandate.”

Source:
Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr speaks about Maduro case (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 12.01.2026