Venezuela’s bishops marked the one-month anniversary of the devastating earthquakes there with a pastoral message, “Samaritans, Witnesses of Hope.”
The bishops wrote, “In recent days, many people have approached us asking: ‘Where is God in the midst of such anguish?’ To this question, which runs through the history of humanity, we respond: God is precisely in and with the victims; they are the favored ones of the Lord Jesus, the true Good Samaritan … Following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, we are all called to be compassionate Samaritans.”
“We must reject the manipulation of those who, driven by superstition and fundamentalism, have claimed that earthquakes are a punishment from God, a kind of divine vengeance,” the bishops added. “This interpretation was refuted by Jesus Christ himself (cf. Lk 13:4-5).”
The bishops also issued a pointed remark about past government “corruption and indifference”:
Reconstruction also requires us to echo the indignation of the earthquake victims who were neglected by public institutions. As previously stated, natural disasters are unpredictable; however, it is the obligation of State authorities to be prepared to face them.
Moving forward, we must all ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated during reconstruction efforts; otherwise, the most vulnerable will once again suffer the consequences of corruption and indifference.