Venezuelan bishops condemn “Delegate’s Prayer” of Venezuelan Socialists

No surprise here.

The top clerical authorities in Venezuela have thrown a wet blanket on the deification of the dead tyrant Hugo Chavez.

What is surprising is that it took several days for the Archbishop of Caracas and his auxiliary bishops to issue a formal condemnation of the blasphemous “prayer” being promoted by Venezuela’s Chavista Socialist party.

Here are the most relevant parts of the statement they released:

From La Patilla: (for the entire text in Spanish go HERE)

The “Our Father,” the supreme prayer of all Christians throughout the world, issued straight from the lips of Our Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6.9-13), and for this reason it is untouchable. In the same way that it is wrong to change a national anthem to honor anyone, it is also wrong to change the “Our Father” or any other Christian prayer, such as the Creed. The symbols, prayers, and religious devotions of Catholicism should be respected.

Anyone who recites this new and inappropriate version of the “Our Father” and literally clings to its words is attributing divine qualities to a human being and is therefore committing the sin of idolatry.

We ask the leaders of the government and the PSUV party to stop promoting this false prayer, in order to prevent the further division of the Venezuelan people.

CARDINAL JORGE UROSA SAVINO, ARCHBISHOP OF CARACAS
Monsignor Jesús González de Zarate S.
Mons. Tulio Ramírez P.
Mons. Fernando Castro Aguayo
Mons Trino Fernández A.
Auxiliary Bishops of Caracas