Venezuela and the Vatican

IF THERE is one troubled land in the world where the Vatican should have the expertise to act as an intelligent peace-maker, it should be Venezuela. The country is overwhelmingly Catholic, albeit with varying levels of piety. The holy see's secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, has recently served as papal envoy to Caracas. In the last few days, the Jesuits, the Catholic fraternity to which Pope Francis belongs, elected a Venezuelan to its highest office.  But that doesn't mean that all bodes well for papal efforts to resolve the acute internal crisis in Venezuela, shaken by nationwide protests, and by furious complaints that the authorities are moving the legal and constitutional goal-posts in a bid to thwart political change.  More…