Cardinal Urosa: The Christian values of a leader are in the Constitution

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino said Thursday that love, justice, freedom, and respect for people are the Catholic values that every candidate must have. All these qualities are enshrined in the Constitution, he said.

"Another very important value is truth: living in truth and working for the wellbeing of all the Venezuelan people rather than looking for the wellbeing of a particular political party excluding the others."

He added that these are the same values promoted by the Catholic Church in the past 50 years, to speak only of recent history. He stressed that the Venezuelan government has described the Catholic Church as enemies or unpatriotic because they advocate such values.

"For a long time, bishops have taken the floor to speak about the domestic situation. We have the duty of being shepherds to promote peace. We promote values such as respect for all, human dignity, the search for the common good, opportunities for all and respect for private property."

The Venezuelan Cardinal said that the Catholic Church and the government of President Hugo Chávez have "a cold and distant" relationship. This is due to the fact that the "bishops' attitude of good shepherds has been mistaken for enmity."