January 3, 2026
Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, condemns the recent military action of the US government in Venezuela and the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The shocking act of aggression violates domestic and international law — it is illegal, immoral, and eviscerates the standard of national sovereignty. Moreover, the motivation of controlling the region’s oil reserves will further threaten environmental degradation and the land rights of the Venezuelan people.
Read the Pax Christi International statement here.
“Mere days into this new year, President Trump moves in the opposite direction of the pleas of Pope Leo XIV for an unarmed and disarming peace expressed on the January 1 World Day of Peace,” said Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., bishop president of Pax Christi USA. “Trump’s actions accelerate the already violent and provocative actions towards Venezuelans in the Caribbean, including unprovoked killings and a threatening military build up. Not only is this another example of the president acting outside of his authority and considering himself above the law, it is a blatant disregard for the inevitable escalation of violence and human suffering without even attempting a peaceful dialogue for the resolution of differences.”
In his message for the 2026 World Day of Peace, “Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace,” Pope Leo XIV quotes Gaudium et Spes “[which] drew attention to the evolution of warfare: ‘The hazards peculiar to modern warfare consist in the fact that they expose those possessing … weapons to the risk of perpetrating crimes like these and, by an inexorable chain of events, of urging people to even worse acts of atrocity.’” The attack on Venezuela is such an atrocity.
We urge our Congressional leaders to step up and respond immediately to this illegal action. We also urge our Catholic bishops in the United States to utilize their religious authority to denounce these acts against Venezuela and to engage in dialogue to rethink and reorder our national priorities in an effort, as Pope Leo writes, to “implore … [our] government leaders and military advisors to give unceasing consideration to their immense responsibilities before God and before the whole human race.”
Our hearts ache for the people of Venezuela and all who have been traumatized, harmed, and killed in this terrible situation. As we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany and the revelation of God made human, we pray for an embrace of nonviolence; for diplomacy, wisdom, mercy, and courage; and for the protection of human dignity.
Thank you for this response.
Let us pray. May God have mercy on us.
Upon hearing about the raid on Venezuela, I immediately called a colleague who has published extensively on both Venezuela and the Caribbean. Her response was that she was astonished that we should be astonished at all and went on to explain that ever since Spain recalled its viceroys from its overseas provinces in Spanish America some 200 years ago, those nations have been, if not “de jure,” certainly “de facto”
quasi-states of the U.S. And, if I may add, we have methodically and inexorably stripped our Latin American sisters and brothers of their dignity and natural resources with the tacit and at times overt approbation of our Judeo-Christian leaders, not to mention politicians from both major parties.
David-Ross Gerling, PhD
Violence never really ever “ solves” anything. It’s an irrationally contrived action with no real winners because it usually harms or takes human life. So with this well documented history, let’s give diplomacy a try in all conflicts as this seeks a bilateral peaceful solution for differences among individuals in all areas where any types of conflict exists.
Thank you to all of you for your words. Bishop Stowe and Charlene, thank you for your clear and courageous leadership.
Doctor David, thank you for taking us to the roots of this atrocity; they are indeed long and run deep. I remember clearly sitting on a bus with a Colombian passenger. I had just arrived. He asked me where I came from. “America,” said I; “Me too.” was his reply. I stayed the summer in Latin America and returned a number of times, but never answered the question the same way again.
Who do we think we are?
Jane Morrissey, SSJ Springfield