{"id":15818,"date":"2016-09-02T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president-24475\/"},"modified":"2016-09-02T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T23:12:00","slug":"amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Venezuela_Flag_Credit_Anyul_Rivas_via_Flickr_CC_BY_20_CNA_8_27_15.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Venezuela\u2019s government is suffering from a \u201cchronic\u201d hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr\u00f3n S\u00e1nchez of Cuman\u00e1, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the \u201cTaking of Caracas\u201d demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>All\u00ed est\u00e1 la fuerza del cambio!All\u00ed est\u00e1 un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HIG9iVCHPE\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hcapriles\/status\/771426277614116864\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 1, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro\u2019s government took to the streets. However, the government\u2019s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Padr\u00f3n said, \u201cwhat the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,\u201d he said in a statement from the bishops\u2019 conference press office.<\/p>\n<p>The archbishop charged that the government \u201ccarried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people\u2019s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,\u201d he complained.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Padr\u00f3n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the \u201cTaking of Caracas\u201d protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,\u201d the Venezuelan archbishop said.<\/p>\n<p>The archbishop said that although he has \u201ca lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,\u201d objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since \u201cany citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=0XY31ekQjak:ONH6MTphvTg:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/0XY31ekQjak\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Venezuela_Flag_Credit_Anyul_Rivas_via_Flickr_CC_BY_20_CNA_8_27_15.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops&#8217; conference.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HIG9iVCHPE\">pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hcapriles\/status\/771426277614116864\">September 1, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office.<\/p>\n<p>The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The government&#8217;s hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said.<\/p>\n<p>The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=0XY31ekQjak:ONH6MTphvTg:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/0XY31ekQjak\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops&#039; conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro.  All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016  From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government&#039;s hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops&#039; conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro.  All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016  From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government&#039;s hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Venezuela_Flag_Credit_Anyul_Rivas_via_Flickr_CC_BY_20_CNA_8_27_15.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/\",\"name\":\"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro. All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016 From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president","description":"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro.  All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016  From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president","og_description":"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro.  All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016  From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Venezuela_Flag_Credit_Anyul_Rivas_via_Flickr_CC_BY_20_CNA_8_27_15.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/","name":"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-02T23:12:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Venezuela&rsquo;s government is suffering from a &ldquo;chronic&rdquo; hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padr&oacute;n S&aacute;nchez of Cuman&aacute;, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference. He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicol&aacute;s Maduro. All&iacute; est&aacute; la fuerza del cambio!All&iacute; est&aacute; un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com\/HIG9iVCHPE &mdash; Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016 From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro&rsquo;s government took to the streets. However, the government&rsquo;s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n said, &ldquo;what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.&rdquo; &ldquo;We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,&rdquo; he said in a statement from the bishops&rsquo; conference press office. The archbishop charged that the government &ldquo;carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.&rdquo; &ldquo;The government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people&rsquo;s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,&rdquo; he complained. Archbishop Padr&oacute;n also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the &ldquo;Taking of Caracas&rdquo; protests. &ldquo;The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,&rdquo; the Venezuelan archbishop said. The archbishop said that although he has &ldquo;a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,&rdquo; objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since &ldquo;any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.&rdquo; &ldquo;There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,&rdquo; he said.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/amid-venezuela-protests-catholic-church-backs-recall-of-president\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Amid Venezuela protests, Catholic Church backs recall of president"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}