Honduran cardinal denounces socialist governments, UN, Planned Parenthood

January 10, 2011

In a wide-ranging interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras discussed his discernment of his priestly vocation, the Honduran people’s devotion to Our Lady of Suyapa, the international community’s preference for assisting banks (rather than the poor), continental migration, and endemic corruption in Latin American political life.

Lamenting the effects of socialist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia, the president of Caritas Internationalis observed that

when they start these kind of governments, the first thing that disappears is freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of information; for instance, in Venezuela all the media that are not with the government have been confiscated or they make life impossible for them because they only have one goal and there is no place for dissent. There is no place for the freedom of movement and organizing, and so when the Church sees these things, it has to denounce them. And so these kinds of governments look at the Church as an enemy because the Church is not obedient to their purpose.

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga also offered strong criticism of the United Nations and the International Planned Parenthood Federation for their support of population control in the region. “That is one of the worst organizations, and I have no fear in denouncing them because they are using very dirty methods and even insulting those who do not agree with them,” the cardinal said of Planned Parenthood. “We do not need bribes to corrupt the people in government. We need resources to be employed in favor of the people and not destroying the people.”

The cardinal added:

They have decided that we are not good partners for their businesses because, as you know, since our continent is mainly a Catholic continent, we will never accept their “philosophy” which is against creation, against God. We are not comfortable with their reasoning, and of course, I’ve said it truly, and I have said it in the UN. For example my country decided that marriage is something according to natural law -- the union between a man and a woman. Since there are lobbyists who do agree with this they will press our congresses, they will attack the Church saying that we are wrong, but we know that we are not wrong and that we want to live in peace like human beings with no deviations.

 

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Further information:

• Globalization: “Leaving the majority on the margin of history” - Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras (Aid to the Church in Need)