Vatican City, January 4th - Pope Leo XIV demanded today that the sovereignty of Venezuela be respected, following the United States' military attack against that country and the kidnapping of its president, Nicolás Maduro.
In his words after the Angelus prayer, spoken at noon this Sunday from the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father expressed before thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square that “I continue to follow with deep concern the evolution of the situation in Venezuela.”
“The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over any other consideration and inspire us to overcome violence and undertake paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the country's sovereignty,” said Leo XIV, after the cowardly aggression carried out in the early hours of last Saturday, by order of the North American leader, Donald Trump.
The pontiff stated, following the brutal bombing and the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, that in that Latin American nation the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution must be ensured, as well as the civil liberties of its citizens, to “build a serene future of collaboration, stability, and harmony.”
The official information portal of the Holy See, Vatican News, warned on January 3rd about the severity of these events, stating that “the capital of the Latin American country has been struck by a series of attacks that the Venezuelan president has described as an American aggression.”
The bombing, according to the report, affected military installations and strategic infrastructure, such as the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base in La Carlota, the Fuerte Tiuna military complex; the Naval Military Academy in La Guaira, the Higuerote Air Base and Airport, as well as areas such as Catia and the 23 de Enero neighborhood.
President Nicolás Maduro “accused Washington of trying to seize the country’s strategic resources, especially oil and minerals, and of attempting a regime change through what he called a colonial war waged with the support of local fascist oligarchies,” the media added.
In the analysis of that news outlet, a service of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, reference is made to the call launched by the Venezuelan government and other Latin American nations, to the United Nations and the international community, to condemn this imperialist attack.
(Taken from Prensa Latina)
