Venezuelan Bishops’ Silence on Christ’s Kingship Amid Geopolitical Upheaval
EWTN News (January 9, 2026) reports on Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, describing Venezuela’s political crisis as a “tense calm” following U.S. military intervention and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. The archbishop emphasizes “prudence and patience,” expresses concern for migrants, and invokes “Pope” Leo XIV’s call to “guarantee national sovereignty.” The article frames the Church’s role as a passive observer of geopolitical machinations, devoid of supernatural perspective.
Naturalism Replaces Supernatural Mission
The archbishop’s statement reduces the Church’s mission to temporal crisis management, stating: “When we have a more comprehensive and accurate understanding, we will be able to comment” on political events. This contradicts Pope Pius XI’s teaching that “the Church… must not only teach but must likewise govern… using both the right and the duty of demanding from the members what is necessary for the common good” (Encyclical Quas Primas, §21). By withholding judgment pending “new information,” the conference abdicates its duty to immediately condemn the U.S. invasion as a violation of Pax Christi in Regno Christi – the only foundation for true peace.
Omission of Venezuela’s Need for Conversion
Nowhere does the bishops’ statement call for Venezuela’s conversion to the Social Kingship of Christ, the sole remedy for national crises. Pope Pius XI explicitly taught: “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” (Quas Primas, §32). The article’s focus on “public policies affecting migrants” ignores the primary spiritual catastrophe: 7.9 million Venezuelans abandoned to apostate nations without sacramental life or access to true Masses. True shepherds would demand their repatriation only under Christ the King’s reign.
Illegitimate Appeal to Vatican II’s False “Pope”
Gonzárate justifies inaction by citing “Pope Leo XIV’s call to guarantee national sovereignty.” This appeal to the antipope’s authority constitutes material heresy, as the 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 188.4) voids all jurisdiction of manifest heretics. St. Robert Bellarmine declared: “A manifest heretic cannot be Pope… he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian” (De Romano Pontifice). The conciliar sect’s “social doctrine” invoked here is the Modernist heresy condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (Propositions 22, 58-65).
War as Fruit of Denying Christ’s Authority
The U.S. invasion proves Pius XI’s warning: “With God and Jesus Christ… excluded from political life… human society is tottering to its fall” (Quas Primas, §18). Both aggressor and victim nations reject Christ’s kingship – the U.S. through Masonic secularism (condemned in Pius IX’s Syllabus, Errors 77-80), Venezuela through Marxist tyranny. True bishops would denounce all regimes refusing to “restrain the license of thinkers who maintain that the State is subject to no law” (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, §33). Instead, González reduces the Church to a Red Cross NGO, “monitoring events” while souls perish.
The True Solution Withheld
Amid geopolitical chaos, the bishops suppress the only remedy: “When all men… shall acknowledge both the authority of Christ and God, then at last it will be possible to heal all these evils” (Leo XIII, Encyclical Annum Sanctum). By refusing to demand Venezuela’s consecration to Christ the King and the abolition of secular constitutions, the conciliar hierarchy perpetuates the crisis. Their silence echoes the Modernist betrayal described in Pius X’s Pascendi: “They make conscience and science their sole guide… no longer governed by faith” (§39).
Source:
President of Venezuelan bishops’ conference: We are living in a ‘tense calm’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 09.01.2026