What happened?
Violence erupted on the streets of Venezuela last weekend as President Nicolás Maduro strengthened his grip on the country. A vote, boycotted by the opposition, elected members of a constituent assembly which will dissolve the opposition-led Congress and write a new constitution for the country. President Maduro said the poll was a “vote for the revolution”, but, according to the opposition, 88 per cent of voters abstained. Critics say Maduro is turning the country into a dictatorship.
What the media are saying
The Daily Telegraph headlined the story: “Maduro ‘power grab’ victory”. It quoted a US state department spokesman as saying that the constituent assembly aimed to “undermine the Venezuelan people’s right to self-determination”. Sky News – whose reporter dramatically came under fire from police on motorbikes live on air on Sunday – said that “Venezuela is beginning to resemble a war.” Sky’s Stuart Ramsay wrote: “Weeks of confrontation, flats raided and set on fire by the police, shootings of unarmed civilians, Molotov cocktails and roadside bombs, injured police, armed pro-government militias roaming the streets at night and now the military deployed. It’s the stuff of nightmares.” The Venezuelan government dismissed foreign press reports as “a targeted media campaign to destabilise the country”.
What the bishops are saying
The bishops have been vocal critics of the Maduro regime. Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas said it must take the blame for at least 10 deaths related to the vote. “This is the responsibility of the president of the republic, the high command and the ministers,” he told the El Nacional newspaper. “They will have to explain this to God.” Before the vote the cardinal had said: “The country is in ruins, people are dying of hunger, there are a number of children dying every month in the hospitals. This demonstrates that the government has not been on top of the circumstances … Most Venezuelans don’t want the constitutional assembly.”
Days before the referendum the bishops said the vote was “unconstitutional” and “damaging to the Venezuelan people”.
✣Francis ‘to restrict celebration of Old Mass’
What happened?
The Catholic website Life Site News reported “Vatican rumblings” that Pope Francis planned to reverse Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, a landmark reform which allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass without permission from a bishop.
The report was widely shared by Catholics but was not picked up by other Catholic outlets.
Why was it under-reported?
The basis of the story appears to be flimsy. An unnamed Rome source had overheard “two liberal prelates” at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith discussing Pope Francis’s apparent plan.
It has provoked anxiety, though, because it repeats a claim made by liturgist and papal confidant Andrea Grillo, who told La Croix last month that Francis may set up a personal prelature for the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) while eventually abolishing Summorum Pontificum, thus restricting the Old Mass to Catholics in the new prelature.
What will happen next?
Traditionalist Catholic websites have poured cold water on the idea. Rorate Caeli described it as fake news. One Peter Five argued that Francis was unlikely to “ghettoise” the Old Mass as he saw traditionalists as a “mild nuisance” at best. “His efforts [on reform] have been focused almost everywhere but the liturgy,” wrote Steve Skojec. He also argued that the SSPX would not agree to limit the older Mass. Predictions are hard, but one thing is clear: anxiety will continue about what reform Pope Francis might pick next.
✣The week ahead
Think Adoration and archery don’t mix? Think again. A unique summer camp for teenagers is taking place at Alton Castle, Staffordshire, from Sunday to Friday. Organised by the dioceses of Northampton and Birmingham as well as the US youth ministry group LifeTeen, it will involve activities such as climbing, bike riding and raft building alongside Mass and Confession.
Kenyans head to the polls on Tuesday. Many fear a repeat of the violence that marred elections in 2007. Some families have already fled their homes. Bishops have urged politicians to “promote unity” and avoid statements that “incite hatred”.
The Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, based in Lymington, Hampshire, set off on a 50-mile pilgrimage for the evangelisation of England yesterday. The route of the St John Paul II pilgrimage goes from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, to Walsingham in Norfolk. The Sisters will arrive at the shrine on Sunday. Usually 30 to 60 pilgrims join them each year.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.