Diego Padrón

Diego Rafael Padrón Sánchez (17 May 1939–) is a Venezuelan prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the Archbishop of Cumaná from 2002 to 2018. Padrón was president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference from 2012 to 2018. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 30 September 2023.

Quotes

• They see us as an enemy. They accuse us of being ideological, but all we do is to describe the situation of Venezuela as it is. We don't invent. We only report what is happening. Such a dramatic situation hadn’t occurred in years: we are without food and without medicine. To put it loud and clear: starving the population is part of a specific strategy, as in many parts of the world. It's the only way they have to keep the people at bay.
  • Crisis in Venezuela: the president of Venezuelan bishops: “they are starving the population.” No sign of dialogue from the government (3 August 2016)

• There must be a line, an order, to intimidate the church, to lower its discourse, to be silent. The government's retaliation against the declarations of the Conference is intimidation. We locate the root of such a tough crisis in the application of a failed political system they called 21st century socialism.
  • Venezuela Catholic Church feels backlash after chiding Socialists (February 16, 2017)