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Caracas skyline. | Credit: Olga Berrios, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan 1, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).
2026 dawned in Venezuela in an atmosphere of ambivalence: sorrows and joys, tensions and consolations, and more questions than certainties. The work of the Catholic Church goes on within the country's turbulent reality, a task that is far from easy due to "the autocratic drift of national politics," as the bishops stated at the beginning of last year.
This past December in their Christmas message, the Venezuelan bishops did not hesitate to reaffirm that the "joyful experience" of Jesus' birth is "overshadowed" by the turbulent national reality. Thus, people go about their daily lives enveloped in a barrage of news, rumors, and hardships.
The collapse of the economy and basic services, which seems to have no solution, is causing great suffering for the most vulnerable. The latent threat of foreign military intervention on the national territory continues due to the severe tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The worsening political and ideological persecution by the socialist regime is evidenced by the hundreds of prisoners — men and women without distinction, including minors — who are being held in the most deplorable conditions. All of this looms over the new year and the Catholic Church, which has experienced firsthand the worst of the current situation in Venezuela.
So what does 2026 hold for Catholicism in Venezuela? ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, spoke with analysts and experts to consider what the coming months will bring.
Nicaragua, a model to follow?
In February, ACI Prensa asked Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, archbishop of Valencia and president of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference, whether the episcopate believed the country was heading toward the type of persecution against the Catholic faith like what has been experienced in Nicaragua for several years under the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo.
González simply replied that the bishops pray and work so that the Church does not go through a similar situation. The president of the bishops' conference said the bishops' goal is for everyone in Venezuela to be able to "live in harmony and peace" and for the country to have "the conditions of freedom, work, and pluralistic religious expression" that the majority aspires to.
Today, following months of systematic harassment and abuse suffered by the Venezuelan bishops to the point of humiliation, those aspirations remain elusive.
Víctor Maldonado, a Venezuelan political scientist, told ACI Prensa that the relationship between the socialist government and the Catholic Church is clearly "very bad," despite the fact that the bishops' conference has tried to maintain a stance where "a certain moderation and self-censorship" prevail in order to avoid "falling into a situation where they lose everything."
"They are subjected to contempt and insults every time they speak out as a body," Maldonado explained, which is why they are currently focused on "holding their ground" to try to avoid "the brutal persecution that has taken place in Nicaragua."
Despite the prudence of the episcopate, in the last months of 2025 it was violently persecuted by the socialist government, which has been increasingly called into question and isolated internationally. Cardinal Baltazar Porras, archbishop emeritus of Caracas, was perhaps the most prominent voice in the Church criticizing the situation in Venezuela, and thus has earned the particular enmity of the Maduro regime.
"Its essence is totalitarian and atheist. Nicaragua is the testing ground for extreme measures. And a clear demonstration of what they are capable of doing. In this sense, Nicaragua has served as a showcase for intimidation," Maldonado said, referring to the so-called "socialism of the 21st century," which gained worldwide prominence when the late Hugo Chávez was president of the country.
Like Nicaragua, a persecuted Church
Martha Patricia Molina is a Nicaraguan lawyer and researcher, author of the report "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church," in which she compiled the prohibition of more than 16,500 processions and acts of piety as well as more than 1,000 attacks by the Nicaraguan dictatorship against the Catholic Church. Her report was delivered to Pope Leo XIV in October 2025.
Molina noted that when dictatorships like those of Ortega and Maduro identify a de facto power that is not supporting their policies, "they begin to attack it until it disappears." When, in Venezuela, as in Nicaragua, all resistance by civil society disappears, then the socialist regime "will focus its fury and punitive power against the prelates."
"It's important that Venezuelans begin now to study and identify the patterns of repression that have been used in Nicaragua to attack religious freedom," Molina said, emphasizing the urgency of "instilling in laypeople and clergy the importance of citizens protesting the government."
Similarly, Maldonado noted that the Maduro regime has gradually incorporated "efforts to delegitimize the Catholic religion," especially through the promotion of Santería and Protestantism, to "demonstrate that they, through the arbitrary use of resources and power, can determine religious hegemony at any given moment."
Furthermore, the political scientist pointed out that the Maduro regime has also used "certain openly revolutionary priests" to promote its political agenda. Perhaps the most representative case is that of Jesuit Father Numa Molina, who "behaves like a committed party member, regardless of the interests and positions of the Church."
"I believe that the bishops' conference is still a respected voice that has a tradition of assuming the prophetic role that belongs to the Church. Like all Venezuelans, it is subject to the same threats of persecution and repression," Maldonado said, although he noted that at this moment "it's not a unified voice" and that "the close relationship of some pastors with those who violate rights and persecute with such ferocity" is causing scandal among believers.
"This struggle over what is the Church's position weakens their moral authority, and Catholics probably don't feel fully supported in their suffering and anguish," he added.
Molina, however, emphasized that the episcopate has been "united and alongside the unprotected and persecuted people."
"Of course, there will be instances — which also need to be identified — of priests backing the regime. In Nicaragua, we have identified all of them; they are bishops and priests (a few) who have gone so far as to claim that there is no religious persecution in Nicaragua," she said.
The autocrat vs. the religious leader
In a statement to ACI Prensa, Marcela Szymanski, an expert on religious freedom at the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, stated that an autocrat "is a man thirsty for power who seeks by all means, especially with weapons and money, to increase his wealth and territorial control."
Szymanski explained that the religious leader is the one most feared by the autocrat, who will try to co-opt him in any way possible. If unsuccessful, "the autocrat will eliminate him and his community using both violent and nonviolent tactics." In Latin America specifically, autocratic regimes of a Marxist bent usually ally themselves "with organized crime to eliminate their opponents."
"In countries where the rule of law has collapsed and human rights violations are increasing, this alliance of Marxist ideology with criminal organizations has become more evident," she said.
In Nicaragua, Szymanski continued, the Ortega dictatorship "doesn't care about world opinion," only about its own survival. That is why it has decisively ramped up its persecution of the Church. In Venezuela, on the other hand, "where the alliance of left-wing parties with organized crime is clear, international reputation is still valued, but less and less."
"The victim, in this case the Church in Nicaragua and Venezuela, cannot be blamed for having the wrong religion, or for being unwise for not obeying the autocrat," she said. Their situation is precarious because "they do not have — and will not have — weapons or money, therefore they cannot stand on an equal footing with the autocrat."
"The men and women who make up the Church must persevere in their faith, because reason cannot comprehend the motive behind such blatant aggression. Resilience, hope, and a life of prayer are what no one can take away from the faithful, even if they close churches and schools and take away hospitals and nursing homes," Szymanski added.
"The priests and sisters who persevere alongside them are the pillars of this suffering Church," she emphasized.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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