A Door Closes and a Great Window Opens

In Venezuela we are living through a great political, economic and social crisis. But above all we are living through a great crisis of values.

The state that governs us, following the Cuban and Chinese communist model, is taking ever greater control of all the country’s media in order to silence complaints about the corruption that is tearing Venezuela apart.

This week I experienced firsthand what it means to have freedom of expression cut off. For almost four years I had written a weekly column in one of Venezuela’s most important independent newspapers, El Universal. The paper was sold, and it is rumored that it was bought by people close to the government. This week I was told that the paper’s Advisory Board could no longer accept my articles.

The solidarity I received on Twitter (@VzlaEntrelineas) was immediate. People were indignant. Some asked me why I had been removed from the paper if my articles didn’t deal with politics. And I answered that my articles, by speaking of morality, of Heaven and hell, and by quoting the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ and what Pope Francis has said about the corrupt, could be extremely uncomfortable for some people’s consciences.

So a stage of my work at that newspaper came to an end, a stage in which I was able to write and defend the Faith without mincing words; in which I could proudly defend my holy Catholic Church, which this government has insulted and attacked. I defended my bishops, my priests, all of us who make up God’s Holy Church. I wrote articles that always tried to convey Joy and Hope, so that despite our problems we would keep building the Kingdom of God. I wrote in defense of life from conception to death, of the family, of care for the elderly and more. I wrote about my favorites, the sick.

I think the corrupt in this country (who, thank God, are few) may have been bothered by the series on corruption I built around some very harsh phrases of Pope Francis: that they “bring dirty bread home to their children,” that they “are hungry for dignity,” that “the worst corrupt are those who help the Church with one hand and steal with the other,” that “Jesus Christ never spoke of forgiving the corrupt,” that “they throw parties with the money of the poor,” and his call for Christians to pray for the corrupt to be converted, “because otherwise the dogs of hell will drink their blood.”

It is striking how this wonderful Pope God has given us at this moment in history (when unbridled consumerism, waste and corruption are at their peak) describes so perfectly what these people’s lives are like and the bad example they give their children. Since Pope Francis took the chair of Peter he has never stopped denouncing them clearly, directly and very bravely.

He has also called on Catholics to denounce corruption and injustice. Someone who calls himself a Christian cannot be an accomplice of a corrupt regime that has squandered a nation’s wealth and made millions of Venezuelans live real tragedies, whether because of extreme insecurity, the endless lines to get food, or the lack of access to medicines and hospital services.

Today I want to thank this well-known portal, ACI Prensa, immensely for offering me a space on its wonderful website as soon as they learned of my expulsion from El Universal. From here I will keep writing and defending the Truth that Our Lord Jesus Christ came to bring to earth and that our Holy Catholic Church guards so zealously.

Today an immense window opens for me, through which I will keep evangelizing (just as Saint John Paul II asked me to in a letter in 2003) and carrying the light of Christ to every corner of the earth.

A thousand thanks to Alejandro and the whole ACI Prensa team. A thousand thanks to everyone who has shown me their support these days. And a thousand thanks to God for letting me live in a country like Venezuela, where immense injustices are being committed that we, as Christians of integrity, must now denounce and work to resolve. That is what the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches us.

One day Freedom, Justice and Peace will shine in our beloved Homeland. God and the Most Holy Virgin of Coromoto are with us and will help us.

I take this opportunity to ask readers in other countries for their prayers for Venezuela and for so many fellow Venezuelans who are suffering the terrible consequences of the brazen corruption of this totalitarian regime.

You will find me here every week, proclaiming the Gospel, spreading the truth and denouncing injustice.