Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06CARACAS495
2006-02-23 10:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:
CARACAS ARCHBISHOP RAISED TO CARDINAL
how-toVZCZCXRO6343 PP RUEHROV DE RUEHCV #0495 0541056 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 231056Z FEB 06 FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3324 INFO RUEHXQ/EU MEM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6049 RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 5209 RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ PRIORITY 1697 RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 9902 RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA PRIORITY 0995 RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 3594 RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0588 RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO PRIORITY 1769 RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 0834 RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY RUEHMI/USOFFICE FRC FT LAUDERDALE PRIORITY 2850 RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0511
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000495
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2021
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CARACAS ARCHBISHOP RAISED TO CARDINAL
REF: 05 CARACAS 3022
Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor,
for Reason 1.4(b).
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 000495
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2021
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CARACAS ARCHBISHOP RAISED TO CARDINAL
REF: 05 CARACAS 3022
Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor,
for Reason 1.4(b).
1. (U) The Vatican announced February 21 that Caracas
Archbishop Jorge Urosa had been nominated by Pope Benedict
XVI as Cardinal. Press reports said Urosa would be formally
installed at a meeting of cardinals in the Vatican on March
24. Urosa, 63, is one of 15 new cardinals to be appointed in
March, according to press reports. Urosa, formerly
Archbishop of Valencia, had just been installed in Caracas in
November 2005. Urosa will succeed former Archbishop Ignacio
Cardinal Velasco, who died in July 2003 and was a central
figure in the drama of the near-coup against President Hugo
Chavez in April 2002. The BRV ambassador in the Vatican,
Ivan Rincon, welcomed the appointment, saying that Venezuela
had lacked a cardinal with the spiritual values of Urosa -- a
swipe at retired Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara.
2. (C) Comment: As the Archbishop of Caracas, Urosa was
expected to receive the cardinalate. That it comes so
quickly after his appointment to the Caracas Archdiocese,
however, may be taken as a sign that Venezuela is a Vatican
priority. The announcement completes the Church's transition
from the April 2002 leadership to one that has less bad blood
with the Chavez administration. Church leadership insists
privately that the change is in personalities only and not in
its strong disapproval of the Chavez administration. In any
event, as a cardinal, Urosa may take some of the limelight
away from retired Cardinal Castillo Lara, an ardent and
outspoken Chavez critic.
WHITAKER
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2021
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CARACAS ARCHBISHOP RAISED TO CARDINAL
REF: 05 CARACAS 3022
Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor,
for Reason 1.4(b).
1. (U) The Vatican announced February 21 that Caracas
Archbishop Jorge Urosa had been nominated by Pope Benedict
XVI as Cardinal. Press reports said Urosa would be formally
installed at a meeting of cardinals in the Vatican on March
24. Urosa, 63, is one of 15 new cardinals to be appointed in
March, according to press reports. Urosa, formerly
Archbishop of Valencia, had just been installed in Caracas in
November 2005. Urosa will succeed former Archbishop Ignacio
Cardinal Velasco, who died in July 2003 and was a central
figure in the drama of the near-coup against President Hugo
Chavez in April 2002. The BRV ambassador in the Vatican,
Ivan Rincon, welcomed the appointment, saying that Venezuela
had lacked a cardinal with the spiritual values of Urosa -- a
swipe at retired Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara.
2. (C) Comment: As the Archbishop of Caracas, Urosa was
expected to receive the cardinalate. That it comes so
quickly after his appointment to the Caracas Archdiocese,
however, may be taken as a sign that Venezuela is a Vatican
priority. The announcement completes the Church's transition
from the April 2002 leadership to one that has less bad blood
with the Chavez administration. Church leadership insists
privately that the change is in personalities only and not in
its strong disapproval of the Chavez administration. In any
event, as a cardinal, Urosa may take some of the limelight
away from retired Cardinal Castillo Lara, an ardent and
outspoken Chavez critic.
WHITAKER