“The Pope? How Many Divisions Has He Got?”

 

‘The Pope? How many divisions has he got?”  was the reply from Josef Stalin to French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval on May 13, ,1935 when Mr. Laval suggested that Stalin should stop the persecution of Russian Catholics.

Questions have been raised about the response of Pope Francis to the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis created first by Hugo Chavez, and now furthered by Nicolas Maduro. A letter to Nicolas Maduro from Pope Francis was leaked to the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera. The source of the leak has not been revealed, but it is doubtful that a Maduro loyalist was the source of the leak.

The letter, two pages and a half long, is dated Feb. 7, 2019, and it is addressed to “Excelentismo señor Nicolas Maduro Moros, Caracas” (To Most Excellent Mister Nicolas Maduro Moros).

The pope did not refer to Maduro as president, and in that way his letter backed the Venezuelan bishops. Gathered for their 111st plenary assembly on Jan. 9, the bishops said that “Maduro’s claim to start a new presidential mandate on Jan 10 is illegitimate at his roots, and paves the way for the unrecognition of the government, as democratic foundations on justice and right are lacking.

In the letter, Pope Francis reminded Maduro that the Holy See has been committed to mediation in the past, but in all of the attempts “what had been agreed in the meetings was not followed by concrete action to carry out the accords,” and that “words seemed to delegitimize the good propositions put into a written form.”

Pope Francis also stressed that he did not back “any kind of dialogue,” but only “the dialogue that takes places when all conflicting parties put the common good above any other interest and work for unity and peace.”

Pope Francis also recalled a letter by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of State, that set the conditions for a dialogue: liberation of political prisoners, re-establishment of the constitutional assembly, open access for humanitarian aid, free political elections.

Those conditions are still in effect.

The Vatican has been involved in diplomatic efforts with the Venezuelan government since 2014.

On Aug. 4, 2017, the Pope sent via the Secretariat of State a communiqué asking “all the political actors, and in particular the government, to ensure the full respect of the human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as of current Constitution; to suspend initiative like the new constitutional assembly that, instead of favoring reconciliation and paz, foster a climate of tensions and confrontations; to create conditions for a negotiated solution”.

It is also noteworthy that, in his urbi et orbi message of Christmas 2018, Pope Francis included Venezuela among the countries that are enduring serious humanitarian crisis, on a par with Yemen, Syria and Nicaragua: the decision turned out to be prescient.

Published in Foreign Policy
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  1. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Doug Watt: Pope Francis also stressed that he did not back “any kind of dialogue,” but only “the dialogue that takes places when all conflicting parties put the common good above any other interest and work for unity and peace.”

    Doug,

    Thank you very much for the post. That is a real Pope talking. He is right to be very diplomatic but sometimes diplomacy must step aside for important clarity. This letter is absolutely clear about what the situation is.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #1
  2. Brian Wolf Inactive
    Brian Wolf
    @BrianWolf

    I am no fan of any particular Pope, as a Protestant and a missionary Popes are not my thing, but when they do well I say it and in this case I must say the Pope is doing exactly the right thing.

    • #2
  3. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    I think Pope Francis has it about right on this one. I don’t expect any pope to get involved in internal political disputes, even something that has the potential for civil war. But he should be making statements and exhortations on the humanitarian consequences from all sorts of issues. 

    • #3
  4. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Brian,

    It just gets worse in Venezuela. They’ve had a huge power failure a massive blackout. In classic Marxist style, Maduro is claiming “sabotage”. This was a time-honored tactic during Stalin’s worst purges. Covering up for the total incompetence of the collectivized industry and farming, the party would have show trials of supposed “wreckers” who had sabotaged the industry..etc. Thus the terror was used to cover mistakes, settle scores, and just keep everyone in a state of total fear.

    In Venezuela, the lying is so extreme that it borders on the black comic.

     VENEZUELA SUFFERED A NATIONWIDE BLACKOUT — AND THE REGIME THINKS MARCO RUBIO IS TO BLAME

    Maduro first accused opposition leader Juan Guaidó of “sabotage” after the failure of the Guri hydroelectric dam, which provides much of the country’s power — adding that he was aided by “U.S. imperialists.”

    Venezuelan information minister Jorge Rodríguez offered more details in a TV address, claiming the outage was caused by a cyberattack against the “brain” of the Guri hydroelectric power plant. He said three of five generators were affected and that 18 of 23 states saw power outages — affecting roughly 70 percent of the population.

    The minister then attacked Rubio, an outspoken critic of the Maduro regime, claiming he was directly involved.

    Marco responds 1:

    Marco responds 2:

    We could all get a really good laugh out of this if people weren’t dying every day from Maduro’s regime.

    Regards,

    Jim

     

    • #4
  5. unsk2 Member
    unsk2
    @

    I’m truly shocked! Francis is acting like a Pope should!

    • #5
  6. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    First time I’ve seen positive news about the content of this Pope’s character.

    Thanks, Doug.

    • #6
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