AMERICA/VENEZUELA - Positive dialogue between Church and government, the Bishops hope for an amnesty for political prisoners

Caracas (Agenzia Fides) - The opening of the hundredth Ordinary Assembly of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference was attended by the Minister of Interior and Justice, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, with whom the bishops addressed the problem of insecurity in which much of the country lives .
The Catholic Church reiterated its desire to make a significant contribution to the "Plan Patria segura " and the mission "A Toda Vida Venezuela."
The President of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, Diego Rafael Padrón Sánchez, Archbishop of Cumana, in a note sent to Fides, said that the meeting took place in a serene and friendly manner. "The meeting is part of the dialogue that we consider appropriate between the government and the Church. We addressed the issue of security, recovery of illegal weapons, prisoners and political exiles. We also proposed issues that affect us directly, such as the ability to facilitate the entry into the country of priests, religious and missionaries without too many problems", said Bishop Padrón". We believe there has been progress on the difficult issue of politician prisoners.
We hope that this problem will end as soon as possible, perhaps through an amnesty in order to send several people back home", added the president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference.
During the press conference, the Bishops stressed that the protests of universities is one of the points that needs an urgent solution. Monsignor Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, Archbishop of Merida, said "we have to listen" to the students’ demands because universities are in a situation of emergency. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 09/07/2013)