‘We will rise with him,’ Venezuelan bishop says as Catholic nonprofits mobilize relief efforts

Auxiliary Bishop Carlos Márquez of Caracas, Venezuela, this week underscored the Church’s commitment “to be with people” as Venezuela recovers from earthquakes.

“First of all, we are committed to being with people,” Márquez told “EWTN News In Depth” on July 10. “Bishops and priests and deacons and religious personnel of all different congregations, we are on the street talking to people, conveying hope, and giving them consolation from all the pain and distress that they are suffering.”

“We accompany the pain of our people,” he said. “We don’t leave them alone.”

Márquez said that in Caracas, where he serves, around 20 to 25 churches and parish houses have been destroyed. While he said Caracas has seen “a lot of damage in many buildings,” the more heavily affected area is La Guajira.

“La Guajira is the poor diocese of Venezuela,” he said. “It’s the sister diocese of Caracas. La Guajira was hit really, really bad and they have much, much more damage than we suffer here.”

“Though we’ve been hit by nature, we don’t lose our hope because our hope is set on Christ the Lord, and he had victory over death and destruction, and we know that we join him in this pain,” Márquez said.

The auxiliary bishop’s remarks come as Catholic aid organizations, including Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas Venezuela, are working together to mobilize relief efforts across the country.

CRS Senior Technical Adviser for Humanitarian Operations John Service told “EWTN News Nightly” on July 10 that CRS and Caritas have channeled their assistance “down to the most affected area, which is La Guajira.”

“Weʼve been sending food, water, hygiene materials, and medical supplies,” he said. “Itʼs been a massive mobilization, a big effort, and weʼve been able to get a lot of trucks going. And itʼs nonstop. Literally in this place where Iʼm standing right now, which is their main office, we get the materials, we process them, we put them into packages that are easy to deliver, and then the trucks go out daily to these different sites.”

Service described the mood on the ground in Venezuela as “sad, frustrated, angry together, and determined.”

“The reality is thereʼs quite a big trauma thatʼs hit these populations. Theyʼve lost loved ones. They still have loved ones they canʼt find. So it is a very difficult process for them to come to grips with whatʼs happened,” he said.

Service said many Venezuelans faced financial hardship before the earthquakes, depleting the resources they might have used to offset the present crisis.

“People donʼt have a big safety net,” he said.