Venezuelan cardinal: Bishops might meet to discuss Chavez proposal

Published: 2007-08-16

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNS) -- Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas said the Venezuelan bishops' conference might have a special meeting to discuss Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's proposed constitutional reform. The proposal "concerns the life of the Venezuelan people, of the Catholics of Venezuela and the rights of everybody," he said. The cardinal said Venezuelan Catholics should participate in the reform process, to make it "a peace treaty for all Venezuelans and not a declaration of war." The reform proposal is to be debated in the National Assembly, but it is not clear whether the assembly or the people as a whole will vote on it. Most controversially, the reform proposal presented by Chavez Aug. 15 would remove term limits for the president and concentrate more power in the presidency. Chavez, who made his name by leading a 1994 coup attempt, was first elected president in 1998, and his current term is to expire in 2012, but he has said he expects to hold office until 2021.

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