AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Bishops concerned for the new law on the national intelligence service, as it contradicts fundamental rights and would infringe on the seal of confession

Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – Several Venezuelan Bishops have issued statements on the controversial reform bill on national intelligence service that was approved on May 28, as it goes against basic rights and would force all Venezuelans to act as an informants. According to the law, whoever refuses to collaborate with intelligence operations could be sent to the Courts. The Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, says that the law, “seems to go against the fundamental rights enumerated in the Constitution.” Moreover, “it would also infringe on the seal of confession.” The seal of confession, he explained, is something sacred and has always been respected by all priests. “It is a fundamental obligation that we have to conserve as secret what has been communicated in the sacred act of Confession, and thus, it cannot be infringed upon by any law.” Likewise, he mentioned that “ we cannot compromise the right that the faithful have to privacy, to the secrecy regarding what they tell the priest in confession and the obligation of the priest. We cannot convert the confessor into an informant. Therefore, this is a problem that should be left quite clear.”
He also explains that the new law “was formulated in such a general manner that it is a cause for concern within the Church and among the Venezuelan people, as it seems to go against the fundamental rights enumerated in the Constitution.”
Furthermore, the Cardinal added, “the law cannot infringe on Venezuelans’ rights, especially in all that concerns due process and the right to defense, rights to freedom of expression, to refusal, and to political freedom, because then it would be unconstitutional.”
Cardinal Urosa mentions that various Bishops have expressed serious concern regarding this law and so, “in the Bishops’ Conference, we are performing a serious study of the law, because it must respect the Constitution, especially in areas that touch human, civil, and political rights of all Venezuelans.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 10/6/2008)