CatholicNewsAgency.com reports on escalating persecution against the Venezuelan Church under Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime, drawing parallels to Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua. The Venezuelan bishops’ conference adopts a strategy of “moderation and self-censorship” to avoid harsher repression, while analysts warn of impending Nicaraguan-style persecution. The article cites Venezuelan political scientist Víctor Maldonado describing the regime’s promotion of Santería and Protestantism to undermine Catholicism, and Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina urging study of Ortega’s persecution patterns. Pontifical foundation expert Marcela Szymanski notes Marxist regimes systematically eliminate religious leaders who resist co-option. The Venezuelan episcopate’s fractured response—including scandalous collaboration by “revolutionary priests” like Jesuit Numa Molina—exposes their failure to uphold munus regale Christi (the kingly office of Christ). The bishops’ timid Christmas message lamenting national turmoil while avoiding doctrinal confrontation epitomizes the conciliar sect’s spiritual bankruptcy.
Naturalistic Reduction of Ecclesial Mission
The article reveals the Venezuelan hierarchy’s fundamental error: treating the Church as a humanitarian NGO rather than Christ’s militant kingdom. When Maldonado observes bishops practice “self-censorship” to avoid “losing everything,” he unwittingly exposes their betrayal of Quas Primas (1925), wherein Pius XI declared: “Nations will be happy only when they accept the principatum Christi Regis (the principate of Christ the King).” The bishops’ stated goal of “pluralistic religious expression” constitutes apostasy against the extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (no salvation outside the Church) dogma defined at Lateran IV (1215) and repeatedly affirmed until Pius XII. Their silence on Venezuela’s state-sponsored paganism (Santería) violates Canon 1374 of the 1917 Code, which commands bishops to “eradicate pagan rites” in their territories.
“The Maduro regime has incorporated efforts to delegitimize the Catholic religion through promotion of Santería and Protestantism.”
This syncretic assault finds roots in the conciliar sect’s embrace of religious liberty—condemned by Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos (1832) as “insanity” and by Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (1864) which rejected the notion that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55). The Venezuelan episcopate’s failure to denounce these abominations stems directly from Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, which falsely claims man has “a right to religious freedom.”
Episcopal Cowardice as Complicity
Maldonado’s description of Cardinal Baltazar Porras as “the most prominent voice” criticizing the regime inadvertently highlights the hierarchy’s collective failure. Porras—created cardinal by Antipope Bergoglio in 2016—embodies the conciliar sect’s impotence: his “criticisms” lack doctrinal foundation, reducing Catholicism to social commentary. When Nicaraguan researcher Molina urges “citizens protesting the government,” she promotes revolutionary action condemned by Leo XIII in Diuturnum Illud (1881): “To despise legitimate authority is to despise God Himself.” True resistance requires demanding the regime submit to Christ’s Social Kingship—a truth absent from both the article and bishops’ statements.
The scandal of Jesuit Numa Molina acting as “a committed party member” flows from the Society of Jesus’ post-conciliar apostasy. Pius VII’s bull Solicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum (1814) reestablished the Jesuits to combat revolution, yet today they spearhead it. The Venezuelan bishops’ refusal to excommunicate such traitors violates Canon 2314 of the 1917 Code, which mandates excommunication for Catholics who join “the Masonic sect or other similar associations plotting against the Church.”
Marxist Persecution as Divine Chastisement
Szymanski’s analysis—labeling Maduro “an autocrat thirsty for power”—misses the theological reality: Marxist persecution constitutes God’s punishment for episcopal infidelity. Leo XIII warned in Humanum Genus (1884) that Masonic-aligned governments would “destroy the holy and immutable rules of morality.” Venezuela suffers this fate because its bishops abandoned the Libertas Praestantissimum (1888) teaching that states must profess Catholicism as “the only true religion.” The article’s Nicaraguan parallel proves Pius XI’s warning in Divini Redemptoris (1937): “Communism is intrinsically evil—no Catholic may collaborate with it.”
“The victim cannot be blamed for having the wrong religion or for being unwise for not obeying the autocrat.”
This relativistic statement contradicts St. Pius X’s condemnation in Lamentabili Sane (1907) of the error that “truth changes with man.” The Church’s strength lies not in Szymanski’s recommended “resilience and prayer,” but in doctrinal warfare. As Pius XI taught in Mortalium Animos (1928), “There is no true fraternity outside Christian charity.” The article’s suggestion that persecuted Catholics should merely endure—without demanding Venezuela’s consecration to Christ the King—betrays the conciliar sect’s surrender to naturalism.
Omission of Supernatural Remedies
Nowhere does the article mention the Rosary, Eucharistic reparation, or the Immaculate Heart’s triumph—the true weapons against Marxism. The Venezuelan bishops’ silence on these reflects the conciliar sect’s abandonment of Catholic eschatology. Pius IX’s 1854 definition of the Immaculate Conception and Pius XII’s 1950 Munificentissimus Deus established Marian doctrine as heaven’s answer to modern errors. Instead, the bishops parrot “dialogue” and “human rights”—notions condemned by Gregory XVI as “the foul spring of indifferentism.”
The absence of any call for Venezuela’s consecration to the Sacred Heart—as mandated by Leo XIII in Annum Sacrum (1899)—proves the hierarchy’s disobedience. St. Margaret Mary’s revelations demanded national consecrations to prevent divine chastisements, yet the Venezuelan episcopate’s modernist formation renders them spiritually blind to these remedies.
TAGS:Persecution, Venezuela, Marxist persecution, Nicolás Maduro, Catholic Church, Socialism, Religious Liberty, Christ the King, Santería, Conciliar church
Source:
Church in Venezuela could undergo more persecution in 2026, experts say (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 01.01.2026