Leo defends sovereignty of ‘beloved Venezuelans’ in response to US attack

All parties must pursue ‘paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country and ensuring the rule of law enshrined in its constitution’, Pope Leo said.

The Pope voiced “deep concern” after the United States attacked Venezuela and demanded respect for its sovereignty and international law.

“The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration,” he said after the Angelus on Sunday, the day after US forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during an attack on the capital Caracas amid airstrikes across the country.

While Pope Leo referred only to “developments in Venezuela” without specifying the detention of Maduro, he called on all parties to pursue “paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in its constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each and every person, and working together to build a peaceful future of cooperation, stability and harmony”.

Remembering in particular “the poorest who are suffering because of the difficult economic situation”, the Pope entrusted his prayers for Venezuela to Our Lady of Coromoto, the country’s patroness, and Saints José Gregorio Hernández and Carmen Rendiles, its first saints whom he canonised in October.

Speaking after the attack on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that with Maduro in custody, “we will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition”, claiming that the vice president Delcy Rodríguez had agreed to cooperate. However, Rodríguez subsequently made an address condemning the US, saying it sought control of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

The Venezuelan bishops’ conference reacted cautiously to Saturday’s attack in a message urging “the people of God to live more intensely hope and fervent prayer for peace in our hearts and in society, rejecting any type of violence”.

“May our hands work for encounter and mutual aid, and may the decisions that are taken be carried out for the wellbeing of our people,” they said.

The Bolivian bishops’ conference sent a letter to its Venezuelan counterpart expressing “its prayer, its fraternal closeness and its solidarity in the face of the very sensitive social situation of the Venezuelan people, aggravated by recent events related to the arrest of their nation’s president”.

“We condemn all excessive use of violence and trust that, with God’s help, the path of dialogue, justice, peace, and respect for human dignity will be found, and that the suffering of so many families my find consolation in Christian hope,” the letter said.

In Mexico, the Bishop Emeritus of Saltillo Raúl Vera issued his own condemnation of the US attack, calling it “terrible news” for the region.

“This threatens peace throughout Latin America. We have to show our condemnation of this bombing by the ‘emperor’ of the United States,” he said, pointing out that Trump did not seek authorisation from Congress for the attack.

“Let us join together to demand the immediate end of the escalation of violence and attacks on the Venezuelan civilian population and on the respect for the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people.”

A statement from Pax Christi International called the attack “constitutes an affront to world peace and a direct threat to the foundations of sovereign coexistence among states”.

“The violation of international sovereignty by the United States represents a very dangerous precedent that risks justifying and legitimising further violations of this kind by the armed forces of the most powerful nations, plunging us into an uncontrolled situation of injustice and violence,” it said.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) called the US actions “stunningly flagrant violations of international law”, warning that they “set a dangerous precedent and example for others who seek to shrug off all constraints against the use of armed aggression and brute force to achieve political objectives”.

A statement from the WCC general secretary Dr Jerry Pillay called for international bodies to take action to ensure respect for international law: “In these dangerous and uncertain times, the world needs wise and courageous leaders for peace, rather than the proliferation of conflicts and the normalisation of international illegality risking a deeper descent into chaos.”

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