Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez claimed to be pleased with the top Catholic representatives, who distanced themselves from the remarks by Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara against the government.

"I am really happy that the president of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference (CEV,) Monsignor Ubaldo Santana; Caracas Archbishop, Monsignor (Jorge) Urosa Sabino; as well as Monsignor Tulio Chirivella, from Barquisimeto; and especially the top leader of our Catholic Church, the Papal Nuncio, representative of His Holiness the Pope, have distanced themselves from the declaration and embarrassment caused by that retired Cardinal."

Last Saturday, Rosalio Cardinal Lara Castillo said that president Chávez' government "has lost its democratic character and is beginning to show gleams of dictatorship." Castillo voiced his opinion during a homily devoted to the Divine Shepherdess, begging her to "save Venezuela."

The CEV representatives described Castillo Lara's remarks as inconvenient since no religious act should be turned into a political one.