Rebellion in the Cathedral

Facing the innovations of Pope Francis, the Church in Venezuela is not monolithic. The only Venezuelan Cardinal, Jorge Urosa Savino, has been exposed as a dissident of the reforms coming from Rome. His stance divides the clergy and leaves the conservative side in bad position for his succession as Archbishop of Caracas. At the same time, paradoxically, they reinforce the progressive sector of a church that until now has acted as a containment wall against Chavismo.
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"The
Church is a spiritual family and the family is a small Church". This is how Pope
Francis sees the institution he leads since March 2013. If this mirror image
between Church and family is taken literally, then it should not be surprising
that the changes that Francis, as patriarch, tries to promote in the family,
generate disturbances and discomfort among its members. In fact, some of these
discomforts, which could be expressed as open dissensions, can be seen in the
Venezuelan Catholic Church hierarchy.
The
aggiornamento that Francis - who turned 79 this Thursday - impulses from
Rome in matters such as communion for the divorced and remarried, acceptance in
faith of the children of unmarried couples, and some arrangement that
naturalizes homosexual couples, has found resistance in Venezuelan shores.
Perhaps the most important, and sort of concealed until then, was felt in August
when, just weeks before the second part of the Synod of the Family in the
Vatican began, a group of cardinals from four continents published in the United
States - originally, in English; one month later a Spanish edition appeared in
Spain - the book Eleven cardinals speak about marriage and family, in
which they stood up to Francis' ideas. The document was a great surprise to the
Venezuelan bishops, since among the authors appears the Archbishop of Caracas,
Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, the only Latin American in the group.
"We
didn't know about that initiative, which of course put us in a difficult
position, because it was interpreted as a questioning of the Pope's stance, even
some Italian bishops asked us if that was the position of the Episcopate",
admitted a source of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), which recalled
that "the Cardinal is certainly the highest representative of the Church in
Venezuela, but he is not the head of the Church in Venezuela, but an advisor to
the Pope. The voice of the Church in Venezuela is the CEV".
Urosa,
in any case, denied being opposed to the Pontiff and attributed everything to a
misinterpretation of the media. "In the book I defend the position that Saint
John Paul II left in his document Familiaris Consortio, which states that
people who have had problems with ecclesiastical marriage and who have
contracted another marriage or are living in concubinage cannot receive
communion unless they live in sexual abstinence; that is, as siblings. That is
what the catechism and the Church's doctrine dictates, which states that whoever
is divorced and has sexual intercourse outside of marriage is committing sin",
he explains.
Urosa's
clarification, however, did not counterbalance the weight of another gesture of
his: he also subscribed a letter to Pope Bergoglio in which several cardinals
criticized the Synod's proceedings. The letter was broadcast by the media in the
midst of debates and caused another controversy. "Some journalists have given it
an air of protest and revolt (...) they have exaggerated too much, they have
tried to make a storm in a tea cup", he said.
In
the premises of the CEV they assured that the letter made noise in the Vatican.
"The Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, knew about the letter and spoke with
several of those who were going to sign it but failed to convince some of them
not to do so and let others go ahead, obviously to expose them", indicated a
confidant. Parolin, Bergoglio's right-hand man in the Vatican bureaucracy, was
for a long time Nuncio (ambassador of the Pope) in Venezuela and knows full well
the local church.
A 'sotto voce' rumors
Is
the Venezuelan hierarchy against Pope Bergoglio? No. "It is unthinkable that the
CEV and the Pope be on separate lines of thought and action, on the contrary: I
believe that the CEV has been one of those that have succeeded in subsuming into
its last documents the thought and point of view of Francis. I see many bishops
committed to the message of Francis and most importantly the priests, who have
made their own this message of leaving the comfort of the office and going to
the people", said Father Carlos Boully, rector of the Universidad Católica Santa
Rosa (Ucsar).
In
similar terms, the former president of the CEV and archbishop of Mérida (capital
of the state of Mérida, Andes of southwestern Venezuela), Monsignor Baltazar
Porras, pronounced: "None of those who signed this book represent their
Episcopal conferences and the Synod gives reason for this, because there is a
positive evolution towards the Pope's proposals, which were approved by a
qualified majority".
Despite
the unanimous statements, other prelates and religious, who asked to remain in
anonymity, assure that Urosa and other allies, such as the newly elected bishop
of Margarita (territory of the island state of Nueva Esparta, on the Eastern
Caribbean of Venezuela), Monsignor Fernando Castro, who is the second of Opus
Dei in the country, don't approve the proposals of the Argentine Pontiff,
considering that they undermine the doctrine.
Bergoglio
reserved one of the Synod's 45 chairs for Baltazar Porras. Porras, who has had a
close relationship with the Pontiff since they coincided in the Latin American
Episcopal Conference (Celam), of which the Venezuelan was vice president for two
periods, joined Urosa and Monsignor Diego Padrón, president of the CEV, in the
debates that took place in the Vatican.
"The
Pope called on his allies around the world to carry out his proposals and in
Venezuela one of the strongest allies is Porras", said the informant, who did
not rule out that in the future the prelate will be called to occupy a position
in Rome.
The
reappearance of Porras on the Vatican horizon reveals the crossed tensions to
which the Venezuelan church is subjected these days. Although the positions on
the Pope's reforms seem to constitute two sides within the Catholic hierarchy,
it in turn takes a different stance on the local political conflict of the last
17 years. Porras, described as counterrevolutionary by the ruling party, thus
passes as a leading reformist figure in the doctrinaire controversy.
'Arriverderci' to the old guard
Will
Urosa's alliance with cardinals like the former archbishop of Madrid, Antonio
Rouco Varela, considered one of the most conservative in Europe, take its toll?
One of the informants said yes. "The Cardinal's position, who doesn't have good
relations with the Secretary of State and former Nuncio in Venezuela, Parolin,
didn't go down well in Rome, but we will see the real repercussions in the
future, especially if he succeeds in influencing the election of his successor".
Urosa,
73, Archbishop of Caracas, has less than two years left in his post. Then, when
he turns 75, according to the Code of Canon Law, he must present his resignation
before the Pontiff. Anticipating this scenario, several colleagues say, Urosa is
making arrangements for a Coadjunctor Bishop to be named, with the purpose of
continuing to exercise along with his successor.

Leaked in the middle of the Synod's debate, a letter appeared endorsed by 13 cardinals, which showed doctrinal differences with the Pope. Among other cardinals, the Mexican Norberto Rivera Carrera denied having signed the letter, so the archbishop of Caracas is the only Latin American who recognized being within that group. Photo: Perfil.com
Inside
the CEV they assured that the only Venezuelan Cardinal wants that his successor
to be the current Archbishop of Valencia (capital of the State of Carabobo,
center of Venezuela), Monsignor Reinaldo Del Prette, and not the other two
candidates that resound among the prelates to appear in the list of candidates
that the Nunciature must send to the Vatican at the time: the current Bishop of
Barinas (capital of the State of Barinas, western plains of Venezuela),
Monsignor José Luis Azuaje, who was Executive Secretary of the CEV during the
Presidency of Porras between 2000 and 2006; and the Bishop of La Guaira (State
of Vargas, central Caribbean coast), the Salesian Raúl Biord, nephew and
collaborator of the deceased Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, who, as President
of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State - a sort of Governor -, came
to have great influence in the Holy See during the pontificate of Juan Pablo
II.
Monsignor
Jesús González de Zárate, meanwhile, despite being one of Urosa's closest
collaborators, has ceased to appear in the pools, since, according to the
informants, his name is now mentioned to succeed Monsignor Padrón - who is about
to resign, also for age reasons - in the Archdiocese of Cumaná (capital of the
state of Sucre, northeast).
But
not only Urosa or Padrón will have to leave, many of the bishops who had a rough
relationship - when they had it - with the late Hugo Chávez will have to leave
too. Among them are the pugnacious archbishop of Coro (capital of the state of
Falcón, western coast), Monsignor Roberto Lückert; or the archbishop of
Maracaibo (capital of the state of Zulia, northwest border of the country) and
former president of the CEV, Monsignor Ubaldo Santana. Even Porras himself,
anointed for his closeness to the Supreme Pontiff, is in retreat, when the
self-proclaimed "Bolivarian process" is, albeit weakened, still underway in
Venezuela.
The
castling moves that are being prepared before the next wave of retirements could
favor Mario Moronta, predict the sources. The current bishop of San Cristóbal
(capital of the state of Táchira, border with Colombia) was removed from the
center of political action - he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas at age 40
and then in Los Teques - and exiled to a distant region in times of John Paul
II. At that time in the Vatican there was little conformity with the sympathy
that Moronta professed towards Chavismo.

Next to Urosa, the newly elected bishop of Margarita, Monsignor Fernando Castro, stands out in the conservative wing of the Venezuelan clergy. Photo: Venezuelan Episcopal Conference.
'Eppur si muove'
The
Synod of the Family was the first battlefield where Francis' renovating gestures
were put to the test. Considering how it developed, it is difficult to determine
which side emerged victorious. It was a tense appointment. The Pope himself
pointed out in his closing speech, on October 24, that some participants had
used "methods not entirely benevolent" to defend their theses. In fact, the
final document looks like a neutral gibberish that doesn't allow observing
significant advances in which the Church describes as "difficult situations"
(divorcees, unmarried couples, homosexuals). A victory for the
conservatives?
"We
are not where we would like to be, but we are no longer where we were", is the
response of Father Boully, rector of the Universidad Católica Santa Rosa (Saint
Rose Catholic University). "The Pope has awakened consciences, stirred up the
fire of reflection on these themes. The mere act of calling the Synodal Fathers,
of calling to reflection some minds that remained frozen for a long time, is an
advance. The Synod is not a light switch that you turn on and everything
changed, no! Just now, it's only starting to generate reflection among the
bishops, priests and laity, and then we eventually will see the fruits. Francis
had the courage to convene this Synod to address issues that others did not
dare".
In
similar terms, Porras declared: "The Synod advanced and opened a series of
possibilities that will have to be developed prudently, but with a firm step
forward at the level of the Episcopal conferences" and sent a message to the
"immobilists": "Putting the doctrine first is putting the law first and it has
to be the other way around, it is life itself that points out what should be
regulated for the greater good of all the communities".
To
calm the parishioners from the frightfulness that could be produced by the sight
of a church in diatribe, Monsignor Ovidio Pérez Morales, who presided over the
Plenary Council of Venezuela, recommended that everyone stop echoing about
schisms and divisions: "You have to get used to the debate within the
Church".