U.S. Military Imperialism Masquerading as “Transition” in Venezuela
The Catholic News Agency reports on January 3, 2026, that U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, transported him to New York for indictment, and announced plans for America to “run” Venezuela until arranging a governmental transition. U.S. President Donald Trump justified the intervention by claiming Maduro “emptied out their prisons [and] sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States,” referencing the 2024 murder of Jocelyn Nungaray by illegal immigrants. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted of projecting American power “anywhere, anytime,” while Latin American leaders condemned the operation and Venezuelan bishops limited their response to prayer and internal communication. This brazen violation of national sovereignty exemplifies the libido dominandi (lust for domination) condemned by Catholic social teaching, executed with chilling efficiency under the humanitarian pretext of “transition.”
Usurpation of Divine Authority Over Nations
The claim that any earthly power may “run” a sovereign nation constitutes blasphemous disregard for the principatus super omnem terram (dominion over all the earth) belonging to Christ alone (Psalms 72:8). Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas explicitly condemns such secular imperialism: “Kings shall shut their mouths at Him […] since all power is given to Him both in heaven and on earth.” The U.S. operation violates three immutable principles:
1. No nation may depose another’s legitimate ruler without justa causa (just cause) verified by competent authority (Suárez, De Legibus, III.4). Maduro’s alleged crimes remain unproven before any international tribunal.
2. Military invasion constitutes mortal sin against charity and justice unless responding to immediate aggression (Augustinus Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, I.932). Venezuela posed no threat to U.S. territory.
3. “Taking money out” of Venezuela as Trump proposes amounts to pillage condemned by Leo XIII: “To despoil others of their goods against their will is punishable by human laws” (Rerum Novarum, 32).
Theological Bankruptcy of Humanitarian Pretexts
Trump’s invocation of Jocelyn Nungaray’s murder reveals the operation’s true nature: emotional manipulation substituting for juridical process. The Catechism of Pope Pius X condemns such demagoguery: “Governments may never employ passion or fraud to secure obedience” (Duty of Citizens, 6). Secretary Hegseth’s declaration that “America can project our will anywhere” constitutes idolatrous deification of state power, directly opposing Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors which condemned the proposition that “the State is the source of all rights” (Error 39).
The article’s neutral reporting on Latin American leaders’ condemnations while omitting Catholic moral analysis demonstrates the post-conciliar media’s complicity. Where St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “tyrants who destroy the commonwealth deserve death” (De Regno, I.6), this intervention constitutes tyranny by the powerful against the weak – precisely the injustice Pope Leo XIII called “vile and inhuman” (In Plurimis, 14).
Betrayal by the Venezuelan Episcopate
The Venezuelan bishops’ tepid response – being “in prayer and communicating with each other” – constitutes dereliction of their duty as successors to the Apostles. St. John Chrysostom’s dictum “The floor of the bishop is everywhere” (Homilia de capto Eutropio) demands public condemnation of this invasion. Their silence echoes the modernist heresy condemned in Lamentabili Sane (1907): “The Church should adapt its doctrines to modern political realities” (Error 80).
True shepherds would echo Pius XII’s condemnation of unlawful invasions: “Every war of aggression against those defending their vital rights is a sin” (Radio Message, August 24, 1939). Instead, these bishops practice the false irenicism deplored by St. Pius X: “They make no distinction between truth and error” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 39).
Symptomatic Fruits of Conciliar Apostasy
This military adventurism flows inevitably from Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, which abandoned the Church’s teaching that “error has no rights” (Pius IX, Quanta Cura, 3). When nations reject Christ’s Social Kingship, they inevitably descend into pagan realpolitik. The operation’s timing – during the Octave of Christmas – compounds its sacrilege, mocking the Prince of Peace whose birth the Church celebrates.
As Fr. Denis Fahey observed: “Either nations will submit to the reign of Christ…or they will become instruments of Satan” (The Kingship of Christ, 1943). That U.S. forces captured Maduro on Epiphany Eve reveals the operation’s diabolical symbolism – a parody of the Magi’s homage to the Divine King.
Source:
Trump says U.S. will 'run' Venezuela until 'transition' to new president (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 03.01.2026