The Archdiocese of Caracas has presented a report on the Church’s response following the double earthquake that struck Venezuela a month ago. At a July 22 press conference, Archbishop Raúl Biord noted that the Church “has responded promptly” to the task of assisting those most affected.
More than 5,000 people died in the tragedy, according to official figures from the interim government, while tens of thousands were injured and left homeless. Other estimates place the number of missing persons in the tens of thousands. La Guaira, Caracas, and El Junquito were among the hardest-hit areas; all of them fall within the ecclesiastical province of Caracas.
Biord explained that from the very beginning, the archdiocese “established an emergency response commission” tasked with managing spiritual, psychological, and material care for those affected. The archbishop expressed his gratitude to the “huge number of people” who have stepped up as Caritas volunteers across the country.
The report presented by the Archdiocese of Caracas focused on three main areas of action: pastoral, material, and infrastructure. Representatives responsible for each of these areas provided details regarding the work carried out over the past month.
Pastoral and spiritual care
“From the very beginning, we have been clear that our primary task is ministering to people. It’s about being close to those suffering, identifying with their pain, listening actively, and, above all, ensuring that every affected person experiences the fact that they are not alone; that the Church, as a mother, sustains and accompanies them,” stated Father Ricardo Guillén, the archdiocese’s vicar for pastoral care.
ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, asked Guillén about the missing persons and thousands of bodies left buried in the rubble with no possibility of recovery and, consequently, no possibility of receiving a burial as prescribed by the Catholic Church.
The priest noted that the bodies of the deceased, as God’s creatures, “possess immense dignity” and therefore should receive a Christian burial whenever possible. He explained that the Catholic Church has endeavored through its priests and permanent deacons to provide pastoral ministry with funeral rites for those whose bodies have been recovered from the collapsed buildings.
“Last Sunday, I had to conduct the funeral rites for a person who was sitting in front of their home when a wall collapsed on him, burying him beneath the rubble. There the family made their decision, and we had to hold the funeral service and console that family,” Guillén recounted.
“It is part of the Church’s mission to honor the bodies of the deceased and provide them with a Christian burial and of course to help their loved ones through their grief,” the priest explained, adding that in the days ahead, Christian communities are called to bear witness to this.
Seminarians from various institutions have deployed to temporary shelters to assist with relief efforts, while processions with the Blessed Sacrament have been held in shelters and areas where the buildings have collapsed, along with days of prayer and other religious activities.
Providing aid after the emergency
Father José Manuel León, auxiliary bishop-elect of Caracas and coordinator of the emergency assistance commission, reported that to date approximately 490 tons of essential supplies have been distributed.
The aid distribution network has provided supplies especially to various hospitals in Caracas, shelters in La Guaira, and devastated areas in several cities. One of the primary goals of the aid initiative is to “guarantee the operational sustainability of supplying the resources to affected families.”
León explained that the archdiocese seeks to “strengthen existing parish medicine banks” while working to “expand and coordinate the network of parish dispensaries to provide primary healthcare to those affected who are still suffering.”
The Church will also provide special support to survivors, particularly children, offering psychological care that equips them with tools to cope with grief and post-traumatic stress.
Infrastructure, condition of churches
Father Neptalí Balza, a civil engineer by profession, is responsible for inspecting the churches in the Archdiocese of Caracas that sustained damage. In his remarks, he explained that a “preliminary technical assessment” has been carried out on 27 churches in the Caracas metropolitan area.
With support from the Venezuelan College of Engineers, the churches have been marked with color-coded tags — green, yellow, and red — to indicate the level of damage sustained following the June 24 earthquakes.
In total, six parish churches were marked with the green tag (usable), representing 22% of the total. Another 16 churches were marked with the yellow tag (restricted use/precautionary) after it was determined that they exhibited minor flaws or detached ornamental elements that don’t prevent religious use but require mitigation measures. These measures include the demolition of vulnerable elements, as well as filling in and smoothing over surfaces. These buildings account for 59% of the total.
Five parish churches were marked with a red tag (restricted access) due to severe structural damage. They are: St. Joseph of Ñaraulí, Our Lady of Mercy, St. John Mary Vianney, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St.Rosalía of Palermo. The red-tagged churches account for 19% of the total.
Balza also presented a five-phase recovery plan:
1. Emergency response and active safeguarding: this entails tagging the main entrance of each church with one of the three traffic light colors to indicate its usability, temporarily shoring up critical areas, and centralizing reports online.
2. Assessment and preliminary studies: this phase focuses on documenting the actual condition of the churches and determining a technical roadmap, leveraging external resources such as partnerships with architecture and engineering students and thesis candidates.
3. Earthquake-resistant design and engineering: involves calculating structural reinforcements using compatible technologies (carbon fiber, mortar injection, tensioning systems) and obtaining validation from authorities responsible for national heritage sites.
4. Execution of reconstruction and interventions: this phase entails the sorting and recovery of reusable collapsed elements (such as coffered ceilings) and the restoration of artistic features (stained glass, ornamentation, and woodwork).
5. Verifying the work done meets specifications and preventive maintenance: the application of an ongoing, long-term preservation protocol for historic buildings.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
