US Intervention in Venezuela: Naturalism Masquerading as Liberation
Catholic News Agency (January 8, 2026) reports on reactions to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US forces. Arturo McFields, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, claims this event brings “winds of hope” for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, stating “no dictatorship is eternal.” Researcher Martha Patricia Molina argues international law must “change and adapt” to permit military interventions against “criminal dictatorships,” while exiled Nicaraguan auxiliary “bishop” Silvio Báez compares tyrants to Herod, declaring “all tyrants pass away.” The report frames US military action as catalyst for democratic transition without addressing Catholic principles of social order.
Naturalistic Reduction of Political Liberation
The analysis commits the fundamental error of discussing regime change while systematically ignoring the Regnum Christi (Kingship of Christ). McFields reduces hope to geopolitical calculations, declaring “democracy is not easy” while omitting Pius XI’s teaching that “nations will be happy and prosperous only when they conform to the laws of Christ” (Quas Primas, 1925). The article’s repeated references to “earthly justice” directly contradict the Syllabus of Errors which condemns the proposition that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55).
“We are seeing right now, in real time, how the powerful figures who thought they were gods or demigods are now brought to their knees…”
This naturalistic rhetoric ignores the supernatural reality that all authority comes from God (Romans 13:1). Maduro’s crimes stem precisely from rejecting Christ’s social kingship – a point unmentioned throughout the report. The article’s celebration of US military intervention as liberating force directly violates Pius IX’s condemnation of rebellion against legitimate authority (Error 63), regardless of that authority’s imperfections.
Heretical Conception of International Law
Molina’s demand to rewrite international law to permit invasions reveals revolutionary thinking condemned by tradition: “When the civil power fails in its duty, private individuals may take the law into their own hands” (Syllabus Error 63). Her argument that laws must “adapt to reality” echoes Modernist evolutionism condemned in Lamentabili Sane (1907), which rejected the notion that “truth changes with man” (Proposition 58).
The article’s uncritical endorsement of US intervention violates subsidiarity and the Church’s prohibition against foreign meddling in sovereign states’ affairs. Pius XII’s 1948 condemnation of the “theory of the preventive war” applies here – no nation may arrogate to itself the role of global policeman. The report’s silence on Venezuela’s legitimate sovereignty (despite Maduro’s tyranny) demonstrates post-conciliar Catholicism’s embrace of liberal interventionism.
Omission of Religious Persecution
While mentioning Molina’s report documenting 16,500 banned religious processions in Nicaragua, the article fails to identify the theological root of communist persecution: hatred of Christ the King. The report’s focus on political prisoners ignores the primary victims – faithful Catholics tortured for resisting regime-mandated apostasy. This aligns with conciliar sect’s materialist worldview that reduces religious persecution to mere human rights violation rather than spiritual warfare against the Mystical Body.
Báez’s homily superficially compares tyrants to Herod while avoiding the essential Catholic truth: “There is no salvation for society unless in the Lord” (Pius XI, Ubi Arcano). His call to “never kneel down to any power” dangerously implies equivalence between tyrannical regimes and legitimate authority – rejecting St. Paul’s command to “be subject to the higher powers” (Romans 13:1). True Catholic resistance requires simultaneous rejection of both tyranny and revolutionary chaos.
False Hope in Political Solutions
The article peddles the modernist heresy that political change constitutes salvation. McFields celebrates “the collapse of 21st-century socialism” while ignoring that Western democracies equally reject Christ’s social reign. This false dichotomy between “socialist dictatorship” and “liberal democracy” ignores Pius XI’s warning that “both liberalism and socialism are fundamentally opposed to the Catholic Faith” (Divini Redemptoris).
Nowhere does the report mention that true liberation requires nations’ conversion to the Catholic Faith – not merely regime change. The article’s concluding reference to “winds of hope” deliberately ignores the Holy Ghost’s exclusive role in renewing societies through sanctification of souls. By reducing hope to political calculation, the authors commit the very idolatry of earthly power they superficially decry.
Source:
After Maduro’s capture, there’s hope for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, leader says (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 08.01.2026