Venezuelan Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo is one of the
Pope's picks from the peripheries who will get a red hat this weekend,
which the new cardinal-elect says is a sign of the Vatican's concern for
the people amid the country’s ongoing crisis.
“The Holy Father has shown a special interest for Venezuela,” Cardinal-elect Porras told journalists Nov. 15.
“I think that never as now, here in the Vatican, have there been
senior leaders who have had a direct or close relationship with the
reality of Venezuela,” he said, adding that “undoubtedly the situation
of the country” is what influenced the Pope’s decision to name him
cardinal.
This round of consistory red-hatters “is a bit special” in the
context of the Jubilee of Mercy, he said, noting that the majority of
his fellow cardinal-elects are “’outsiders,’ we come from dioceses or
sees which traditionally have never had cardinals.”
On Oct. 9 Pope Francis announced that Archbishop Porras and 16 other
priests and bishops would be named cardinals Nov. 19, the eve of the
close of the Jubilee of Mercy. His nomination makes him one of just two
cardinal-electors from Venezuela, meaning he is eligible to vote in the
next conclave, alongside fellow Venezuelan Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino.
Porras, Archbishop of Merida, spoke to journalists about his
nomination in the context of Venezuela’s current social and economic
situation Nov. 15, just days before he is set to be elevated as cardinal
by Pope Francis.
He recalled receiving a letter from the Pope, which didn't simply
offer congratulations, but provided “a program” for how to carry out
ministry in his new role.
The letter, he said, cautioned against getting “carried away” by the
excitement and compliments for his appointment. To be a cardinal, it
read, “is not for a worldly joy, but to know that it’s a responsibility
that has to do mainly with the poor.”
The new cardinal-elect spoke about the significance of having two
electors from Venezuela for the first time, which he said is due to the
fact that the Church is “the strongest and most unified” institution in
Venezuela.
“The loss of institutions in Venezuela is very serious. Everything
works discretionally in power,” he said, noting that the Church in
Venezuela “has been a very critical voice in denouncing the problems
that exist in the country.”
Venezuela is currently on the point of a humanitarian emergency in
which fundamental necessities are inaccessible and many, including
children, die due to the lack of basic foods and medicines.
In the aftermath of Chavez’s stormy reign and the takeover of his
successor, Nicolas Maduro, in 2013, Venezuela has been marred by
violence and social and economic upheaval. Poor economic policies,
including strict price controls, coupled with high inflation rates, have
resulted in a severe lack of basic necessities such as toilet paper,
milk, flour, diapers and medicines.
Venezuela's socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis.
Since 2003, price controls on some 160 products, including cooking oil,
soap and flour, have meant that while they are affordable, they fly off
store shelves only to be resold on the black market at much higher
rates.
The Venezuelan government is known to be among the most corrupt in
Latin America, and violent crime in the country has spiked since Maduro
took office after former president Chavez died from cancer in 2013. The
regime is known to have committed gross abuses, including violence,
against those who don’t share their political ideologies.
When it comes to the stance of the Church in the crisis, Porras noted
that since the bishops frequently speak out against the Maduro regime,
they are labeled as siding with the opposition. However, he stressed
that “The Church in Venezuela is not with the opposition, it’s with the
people.”
“The hierarchy is with the people,” he said, noting that according to
documentation from 1531 when Venezuela first received a bishop until
now, the Church has always pointed out the problems that need to be
solved.
“All governments, from Romulo Betancourt to now have seen us as the
opposition,” he said, insisting that the Church’s behavior, particularly
in the past 50 years, “has been in continuity” with her attitude in the
past.
“We are on the side of the people and not on the side of any
political bias,” he said, explaining that in their meetings with people
from both government and opposition parties, “we usually say things
quite clearly. And there are those who receive it and those who don’t.”
Porras also spoke about Pope Francis and his Latin American roots,
which he says are at the heart of the Pope’s closeness to the people.
In both Europe and North America, Pope Francis’ style “is sometimes
seen as something like a good pastor who doesn’t have much depth in
thought, that he is simply a good pastor.”
This attitude “is a mistake,” Porras said, saying that if there’s one
virtue the Church in Latin America has “it is closeness, simplicity and
presence in the midst of problems.”
Different currents of thought since the Second Vatican Council such
as liberation theology and the theology of the people, “which Pope
Francis represents,” has a lot to do with this cultural sense of
closeness, Porras said.
The 'theology of the people' was popular in Argentina in the 1950s as
an alternative to radical liberation theology. While radical liberation
theologians looked to Marxist interpretations of the Gospel, theology
of the people was founded on common peoples' culture and devotion,
including their spirituality and sense of justice.
A true “pastoral theology,” Porras said, can be understood by looking
to the concept of an internist doctor in medicine, who is the one that
has “a fairly general vision” of things, and as such is able to take the
richness of other areas of theology “and always relate them to reality,
to daily life.”
“This is one of the great contributions” Latin American theology has,
Porras said, explaining that the true value of it “is clearly expressed
in the thought and actions of Pope Francis.”
He spoke about the Pope’s frequent call for pastors to take on
“smell of the sheep,” which is something “we have to be permanently,”
particularly given the country’s current situation.
“Unfortunately, in Latin America and Venezuela also, those who arrive
at the government remain isolated in a kind of capsule and have very
little relation with the people, with real problems,” he said, noting
that as bishops, staying close to their flock is a key way “to be able
to see what reality” is like.
Many say Venezuela is a rich country, “but what Venezuela has had
throughout the 21st century is a rich government, but not a rich
population,” the archbishop said, explaining that currently “everything
is the opposite.”
“Imagine at this moment that there is no food, where there are no
medicines, where violence is unleashed and where impunity and corruption
are evident because the mere presence of works and people of the Church
is already a call to what should be.”
When asked about the recent election of Donald Trump as the next
president of the United States, Porras said Trump’s pre-election
rhetoric on immigration has “a short circuit,” especially given the fact
that there are many Latinos who live in the U.S.
“Simplistic readings of this should not be made,” he said, noting
that in the context of a changing world, when the needs of the people
are at least in some way “recognized by political diligence,” the
politicians “must also look for solutions to these problems.”