AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Local Church concerned that Catholic schools and hospitals may face government take-over

Thursday, 6 September 2007

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Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic aid association Aid to the Church in Need ACN recently denounced growing fear among priests and lay people in Venezuela that the government intends to take over the country's Catholic schools.
“A Catholic priest who is director of a school has expressed concern at the fact that Church schools and hospitals may be taken over by the government as part of a programme to nationalise the sectors of education and healthcare”, ACN reports.
Catholic schools in Venezuela “feel threatened” because the government is exercising influence with regard the curriculum, obliging the use of “approved material” and promoting a sort of indoctrination of the population.
ACN project manager for Latin America, Javier Legorreta, spoke of a “growing threat” to the Church Venezuela. “The Catholic Church in Venezuela needs first of all our solidarity, our prayers and our moral support”, said Legorreta.
ACN is an association of international aid of Pontifical Right started in Germany just after World War II; today it is one of the world's five largest Catholic international aid agencies and funds aid projects in more than a hundred different countries. (AP) (6/9/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:20; Parole:196)