Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is to honor Thursday as head of state Caracas archbishop Jorge Urosa, who was ordained cardinal last week by Pope Benedict XVI.

A ceremony will be held in the sector of Maiquetía international airport, where President Chávez usually welcomes VIP's, a press release from the Minister of Communications stated, as quoted by Efe.

The Venezuelan Government thinks that Urosa's appointment as the new head of the Venezuelan Catholic Church "confirms the Vatican's shift" from confrontation and demeaning to dialogue and détente.

Urosa spent the weeks prior to his visit to Vatican meeting with government authorities and opposition representatives. "This is beneficial to the state, the government and also to the national community and the Catholic Church itself," Vice-President José Vicente Rangel stated in a communiqué.