Venezuela's Roman Catholic church tells Chavez act like a president

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5951619&cKey=1121727918000

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's Roman Catholic Church told President Hugo Chavez on Monday he had failed to behave like a head of state by using a state television broadcast to berate a cardinal who called him a dictator.

Chavez, who has clashed in the past with high-ranking Catholic critics of his self-styled "revolution," on Sunday called retired Cardinal Rosario Castillo a coup-mongering "bandit" and said he had "the devil inside him."

Brandishing a crucifix, the left-wing president used his weekly "Hello President" TV and radio show to rebuke a media interview in which Castillo called his rule a dictatorship.

Speaking out in defense of Castillo, a Venezuelan archbishop said on Monday Chavez had insulted the cardinal while failing to answer his criticisms of the president's six-year-old rule over the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"The president must understand he is precisely that, the president, and should know how to behave," Monsignor Roberto Luckert, the Archbishop of Coro, told Globovision television.

[ElectroPrincess]

1. Hey, they each have THEIR podiums ... no harm - no foul

Both are preaching to the choir. :P

[kenny blankenship]

2. Well tell the Cardinal to act like a Cardinal

--just stick to molesting altarboys, handing out high-carb, nutrition free wafers and keep his fucking schnozz out of his country's politics.

[Cha]

3. Do they have that

"seperation of church and state" thing down there?

[Robbien]

4. Yes, it would be good if the Cardinal would work for the poor

instead of advocating for the elite. How many times has the vatican been to North/Central Africa? One, maybe two times in the last decade?

[oscar111]

5. JESUS "sell all and give the money to the poor" Luke 18:22

also in mark and matthew.

[Centered]

7. fair is fair

Are you going to stay away from your country's politics then? He has every right to speak his mind... and so do you as long as you remember that.

[Judi Lynn]

8. It seems he should be free to speak as a citizen, not as God's voice.

We've had more than enough of that nonsense.

Whatever his views are should be identitifed as his personal opinion.

Monsignor Roberto Luckert, archbishop of Coro, took it upon himself to inform whatever Venezuelans gave a damn what he thought, that he was thoroughly opposed the drafting of the new constituion by Venzuela's National Assembly. Another priest labeled it as "immoral."

If they are to minister to Venezuela's population, it's about time the remembered the brown, black, and poor ones.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Cardinal Lara claims that Chavez election victory was a fraud!

Here is an article about the good Cardinal, and of his support of the golpistas and their CIA-funded attempts to topple Chavez. This Cardinal is just another rightwing puke that we should condemn just as we condemn the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Cardinal Lara should be a regular on Faux!

Like the Bible says, by their works you shall know them!

Date: 2004-08-16

Venezuelan Cardinal Tallys Recall Vote as "Gigantic Fraud"


CARACAS, Venezuela, AUG. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The recall referendum held Sunday on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was a "gigantic fraud," says Cardinal José Castillo Lara.

The National Electoral Council reported today that Chávez won 58.3% of the votes in the recall, compared with 41.7% who voted for his ouster. The tally was 4.99 million votes to 3.57 million.

The Venezuelan-born cardinal told Vatican Radio that a "gigantic fraud" took place in the referendum.

"There was a move to the ballot boxes never before seen in Venezuela," he said. "But the electoral centers, changing the dispositions, used people of the ruling party in the vote-counting."

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=57717

[Judi Lynn]

11. Oh, for chrissakes! He's stark, raving mad. From the article you found:

The cardinal also said that governmental representatives bought votes at the ballot boxes.

"Poor people were given the equivalent of U.S. $50 or $60 if they voted 'no,' that is, to keep the president in the government," he added.
(snip)

There has been no more overseen election in my lifetime.

It was heavily scrutinized by international groups and officials, and if there had been ONE item out of line, everyone knows our Neocon _Bush creeps in Washington would have used it as an invitation to invasion, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Dream on, Cardinal Lara.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Too bad the archbishop didn't have much to say after the massacre

when the later-impeached Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez (who's also a _Bush friend) had his military fire into a very large crowd of poor people protesting his decision to seriously raise the cost of their public transportation. (Obviously most of them are so unbelievably poor they do NOT have cars, and must rely on public buses.)

The event was named "El Caracazo." Chavez lead a coup attempt against this president, Carlos Andres Perez, who was later impeached for massive corruption. Chavez himself was given a pardon by another Venezuelan president.



More photos: http://abn.info.ve/galeria/show.php?carpeta=El%20Caracazo.%20Fotos%20Frasso.%201989

[Judi Lynn]

9. Venezuela: Chavez and church butt heads

Venezuela: Chavez and church butt heads
CARACAS, Venezuela, July 18 (UPI) -- The Roman Catholic Church in Venezuela lambasted President Hugo Chavez Monday for his criticism of a cardinal during a national address.

Chavez said on Sunday that Cardinal Rosario Castillo "had the devil inside him" and that the Catholic Church in Venezuela was trying to undermine his efforts at social reform.

The Church retaliated against the Chavez remarks the following day. Monsignor Roberto Luckert said on Globovision TV that the president "must give respect in order to get respect" and has no right to insult a Church official.
(snip/...)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050718-21393900-bc-venezuela-church.xml

[IndianaGreen]

12. Insulting the Cardinal is the equivalent of insulting the President in USA

Cardinal Lara is a lying sack of shit that supported the golpistas and even to this day is claiming that Chavez electoral victory was a fraud, that votes of the poor were bought.

Cardinal Lara repeats the same lies of the Miami Venezuelans, and their Cuban friends.

[Judi Lynn]

14. I'll bet a lot of very poor people have turned to the church

during times the government was running right over them. In Venezuela's case, when their President Perez sent his soldiers to gun them down in the streets, they had the President Perez-loving clergy to turn to for comfort.

Thanks a lot, padres.

[endarkenment]

17. Taking the boot off their necks = buying their votes.

To the venezualan elites and their US pals in washington, stopping the oppression of the poor in venezuala is 'getting elected by buying their votes'. Shame on the Catholic church for turning its back on the poor of Latin America. Go re-read your new testement.

[rman]

13. As though calling Chavez a dictator is not an insult.

Kudos to Chavez for calling a spade a spade.

[Mairead]

15. Ohboy, nothing biased about THAT 'news report', is there!

Neutral language, no partisan POV...a fine example of dispassionate journalism.

*urp*

[dArKeR]

16. Pope Tells Journalists To Search For 'Truth'

Pope Tells Journalists To Search For 'Truth'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/23/AR2005042301372.html?nav=rss_world/europe

The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3201751

Vatican said Monday there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians
http://www.winktv.com/x466.xml?URL=http://localhost/APWIREFEED/d8a8vi600.xml

Vatican Reportedly Clears Priest
Vaca, a former priest, is one of at least eight men in Mexico and the United States who have accused the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado of molesting them when they were teenage seminary students in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200966.html?nav=rss_world/europe

Despite the horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations, however, sensible Catholics hoping for a more transparent and less sexually repressed church shouldn't hold their breath. The new pope is not only a longtime leader of vicious church attacks on "evil" gays, he also has shamefully blamed the molestation scandal on the media.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/thenation/20050524/cm_thenation/20050606scheer0524_1

Vatican Accused of Child Molestation Cover-Up
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/098516.htm

Survivors Network says the overwhelming majority of its members have never sued and are too traumatized to do so. They say they adopted their tactics after bishops promised for years to take action against guilty clergy, then never did.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7463011/page/2

Pope's Nazi past
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7576505 /

[DanCa]

18. Does it mean that chaves has to invade countries without cause (nt)

[getmeouttahere]

19. Notice that the author of this article feels compelled to mention

that Venezuela is "the world's No. 5 oil exporter." Well, at least they are not trying to hide what this is all about.

www.handsoffvenezuela.org

[IndianaGreen]

20. It is always about OIL

I wonder how many of our fellow DUers will chastise us when we refuse to support the troops after Bush sends them to attack Venezuela.

Militarism and fascism is a disease that is not confined to the GOP.

[cal04]

21. Chavez denounces Venezuelan cardinal as coup-mongering "bandit"

President Chavez denounces Venezuelan cardinal as coup-mongering "bandit"

China's Xinhua news agency reports that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called a Roman Catholic cardinal a coup-mongering "bandit" after the church leader urged Venezuelans to oppose the President on the grounds he was not ruling the country like a democrat.
At a live state television broadcast, waving a copy of Castillo's newspaper interview, Chavez angrily retorted the church leader, saying "He has the devil inside him ... (he's an) immoral bandit and coup-mongerer." He also said the cardinal's attack against him should be brought to the attention of Pope Benedict ... "Is this how the Vatican wants to have good relations with us?"

recent opinion polls showed Chavez enjoys the support of a majority of Venezuelans because his populist government is using national oil wealth to provide free health and education programs and cheap food for the poor.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=42246

[applegrove]

22. Neocon juice has definitely gotten as far as Rome. They act like

a third party player. Why can't Chavez berate a cardinal who insults him? He was elected democratically - the Cardinal was not. Not even women could vote on the Cardinal.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Cardinal Lara is not calling for the extradition of Posada Carriles

The Cuban-born terrorists that placed a bomb in a Cubana Airlines passenger jet that blew up after departing Venezuela.

[arikara]

24. Hey Chavez... understand that you are a president!

Start acting more presidential. Steal from the poor and enrich your corporate buddies. Tell big lies. Invade another country.

[IndianaGreen]

25. And continue to subsidize the Church!

In Spain, one of the reasons why the Catholic Church is so opposed to Zapatero's socialist government is that he cut off all of the subsidies the Church has been getting from the government since the days of the Franco dictatorship.

We have similar subsidies in the US, they are called faith-based funding.

[Matilda]

26. Sad to see the Church allying itself with the fascists.

I somehow think that Christ would be in the villages of the poor,
with Chavez.