During a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Jose Luis Azuaje of El Vigia said this week, “The main problems the Catholic Church in Venezuela has to face are a Law of Education, soon to be implemented, as well as the forthcoming approval of a curriculum which will ban religious education from schools.”

“We urgently need to use the means of mass media in order to educate people to be critical about the government’s doctrinal messages,” the bishop said during his visit. “The Social Doctrine of the Church must be the fundament of social, political and cultural formation and education.”

“Politics in Venezuela are affected by intolerance.  In addition, I doubt that there is still separation of powers,” he added.

Bishop Azuaje thanked Aid to the Church in Need and said, “Your charity has been present for many years in the whole world and especially in countries which undergo a similar experience like ours. We in Venezuela are just at the very beginning.”