The socialist idiots who run Venezuela have a slogan: Socialism or Death! They seem to have modified the slogan to Socialism and Death, since violent death, or death by starvation, seems to be the only thing being produced by that country currently. The Pope has largely remained silent, and Sandro Magister gives us an example of the indulgent attitude of the Pope to the Venezuela regime:
One of these concerns Venezuela. Against the background of the disaster into which the country has plunged and in the run-up to the false elections for reconfirming in power the heir of Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, there erupted last week a revolt – which was harshly repressed – in the El Helicoide prison in Caracas, a place of detention and torture for political prisoners who crime is that of having opposed the regime.
At the news of the revolt the archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, and then the Venezuelan episcopal conference appealed “to the state, to its responsibility for the life and well-being of all persons imprisoned.” And at the Vatican, the secretariat of state judged it opportune for Pope Francis to speak out as well, at the end of the Regina Caeli on May 20, the Sunday of Pentecost.
In fact, here is the text of the appeal as provided for the journalists accredited to the Holy See one hour before the pope spoke, naturally under embargo until the moment when the text was spoken and with the obligation of comparing it with the words actually said:
“I would like to dedicate once again a special consideration to beloved Venezuela. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may all work to find just, effective, and peaceful solutions for the grave humanitarian, political, economic, and social crisis that is exhausting the population, and avoid the temptation of resorting to any kind of violence. I encourage the authorities of the country to guarantee respect for the life and well-being of every person, especially those who, like the imprisoned, are under their responsibility.”
But then, when he addressed the crowd present in Saint Peter’s Square, Francis did not read the text he was holding in his hands. He looked up and improvised these words:
“I would like to dedicate a special consideration to beloved Venezuela. I ask that the Holy Spirit give the whole Venezuelan people – all, leaders, people – the wisdom to find the path of peace and unity. I also pray for the prisoners who died yesterday.”
Very disappointing words for Venezuelans, precisely because they are so indulgent – like other times in the past – toward the regime of Maduro, for which the pope avoided any direct call to responsibility, which instead was explicit in the severe words that the secretariat of state provided and that he set aside.
Go here to read the rest. Like most leftists the Pope clearly believes in the maxim: No enemies on the Left.
All in the name of fighting “inequality” the greatest of evils…. Sure it is. What would God know, His making us all unequally different and all that?
Seen in yesterday’s Washington Post, “A Historic Exodus Is Leaving Venezuela Without Doctors, Teachers, and Electricians.” Atlas is shrugging.
“. . . offering a glimpse into what happens when a nation begins to empty out. Vast gaps in Venezuela’s labor market are causing a breakdown in daily life, and robbing this nation of its future. The exodus is broad and deep — an outflow of doctors, engineers, oil workers, bus drivers and electricians.”
Far worse: Venezuelan bosses and the Vatican (emphasis on worldly stuff) are walking people away from Jesus who by His life, death, and resurrection has won for us the rewards of eternal life.
When Chavez was elected, the historian Mark Falcoff offered that when you talk to Venezuelans from all walks of life, they give voice to the notion that wealth comes from resource endowments, and that economic distress is a function of someone having stolen from them theirs. It was Falcoff’s view that Venezuelans were going to have to learn the hard way that a country’s wealth is a function of its human capital, properly applied. Of course, that you have to learn something the hard way doesn’t mean getting it good and hard is going to teach you much of anything. The Pope is insulated from consequences, so can only draw lessons by contemplating social disasters elsewhere. And he never gets it.
Hmmmm, Venezuela vis-a-vi, maybe…Singapore.
Hmmmm, no,no,no. Venezuela vis-a-vi, lets say…R.O.K.
Hmmmm, no,no, wait, Venezuela vis-a-vi, OK….Israel.
What part of ‘free enterprise’ does the pope not get. I gues they didn’t teach that at JuanEvitaPeron High School in B.A.