The head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City has said Venezuela should remain an independent Latin American country.
Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday he was following the ongoing developments in the Bolivarian state after US President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that US forces had carried out an attack against Caracas and abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and flown them to the US, and would be running the country from now on.
“With a heart full of concern, I follow the developments of the situation in Venezuela,” the Pope said, adding that the welfare of the people must prevail.
“The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over any other consideration and lead to overcoming violence and embarking on paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country,” he said.
The Pope insisted on following the laws cited in the country’s “Constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each and every person.”
The leader of Catholics urged “working to build together a serene future of collaboration, stability, and harmony.”
He emphasized that special attention needed to be given to the walks of society who are “the poorest, who suffer because of the difficult economic situation.”
“For this reason, I pray and invite you to pray, entrusting our prayer to the intercession of Our Lady of Coromoto and Saints José Gregorio Hernandez and Sister Carmen Rendiles,” he concluded.
In the meantime, the acting-president of Venezuela says the abduction of Maduro and his wife and their transfer to a prison in the United States carries a “Zionist tint.”
Delcy Rodríguez’s reference to a “Zionist tint” points to the involvement or influence of Israeli regime forces in the American forces’ attack on Caracas and the abduction of the long-time Venezuelan leader.
Rodríguez stressed that governments around the world were “simply shocked” by the US aggression against the Bolivarian Latin American state, insisting that “history and justice will make them pay.”
“The governments of the world are simply shocked that it is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which is the victim and subject of an attack of this nature, which has, without a doubt, a Zionist tint,” she said.