Much loved by the people, Cardinal Urosa was a fierce critic of his country’s regime.
Newsroom (September 24, 2021 11:40 AM, Gaudium Press) Yesterday, September 23, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, who was hospitalized in the ICU due to Covid, passed away.
“The Bishops’ Conference of Venezuela with pain and hope notifies the passing of His Eminence Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas. We ask God to grant him eternal rest and the reward of enjoying eternal beatitude,” the Episcopate communicated via Twitter.
The cardinal was 79 years old and had received the last sacraments last September 12. He had been hospitalized since August 28.
In addition to his enormous pastoral work, everyone remembers the Cardinal for being an energetic critic of the Maduro government.
For example, in statements to the newspaper El Nacional last November, the cardinal spoke about the “terrible” state his country was in and the need for regime change for Venezuela.
“They don’t want to leave now because they cling to power, it seems they don’t care about the suffering they are causing the people, about the suffering of so many people who have to leave,” the cardinal said at the time.
“The government continues to represent a farce, a dishonest dialogue to buy time and totally rejects what is at the center and root of the problems, which is the incapacity of the current president to govern,” he declared then.
Biographical data
Cardinal Jorge Urosa earned a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. After serving as Rector of the San José Seminary in Caracas, he was named Auxiliary Bishop of that city by John Paul II on July 3, 1982.
In 1990, he was named Archbishop of Valencia, and on September 19, 2005, Archbishop of Caracas.
Archbishop Urosa Savino was made Cardinal of the Church by Benedict XVI in the consistory of March 24, 2006.
In a touching gesture and on the verge of entering the ICU, the Cardinal wrote a farewell letter in which he made “a brief declaration of love for God and the Church, and for the Venezuelan people.”
“I feel immensely happy to have been a priest, to have lived my vocation with great enthusiasm. I have had the good fortune and blessing that God has led me along unsuspected paths of service and very high responsibilities in the Church, for which I am deeply grateful,” the Cardinal said in the letter.
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
