Venezuelan Bishops’ Cowardice Masks Grave Apostasy Before Marxist Onslaught

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.