A pastoral visit of Hope: Venezuelan bishop meets migrants in Trinidad

Bishop Jaime José Villarroel Rodríguez of the Diocese of Carúpano, Venezuela, has completed a pastoral visit to Trinidad and Tobago, meeting migrants, visiting shelters, and offering spiritual and emotional support to Venezuelan communities living here.

The Bishop arrived at the invitation of Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon and spent a week travelling across the country to better understand the lives of displaced Venezuelans.

“I am here because Archbishop Jason Gordon has invited me,” Bishop Villarroel explained through a translator. “We have an agreement allowing a priest from Venezuela to be here with a missionary permit. So, I just came for a pastoral visit to find out about the migrants and the situation in Venezuela. We have been trying to see in what way we can help out.”

Visiting migrant communities and schools

The Bishop spent time in several areas where Venezuelan families are being assisted through Church-led initiatives. His first stop was Santa Cruz, where a shelter provides accommodation and a learning space for migrant children. “They also have a child-friendly space or a school for the children who are there,” he said, noting that young migrants often face disruption in education and emotional uncertainty.

He later travelled to Arima, where the Archdiocese’s Social Justice Commission supports schooling for migrant children. He also visited Penal, where there is “a big community right there with the children…We sang with them. When we come, it is just to bring God’s Word for them to have hope.”

One of the most emotional moments of the visit was time spent with detainees. Bishop Villarroel visited both women and men imprisoned at the Women’s Prison and the Maximum Security Prison. “We were with the migrants, the ones who are incarcerated,” he said. “We brought a word of consolation, motivating them, and expressing that they are not alone in this earth. We also thanked this country for having them.”

A country in tension and a Church of consolation

Turning to the wider political and social situation in Venezuela, Bishop Villarroel acknowledged ongoing tensions between the Venezuelan government, the United States and others in the region, with Trinidad and Tobago caught in the middle as a Caribbean neighbour.

“There is a lot of tension between the countries,” he noted. “If you say anything in Venezuela, then you can be in trouble. But Venezuelans do what they have to do—they work, they eat, they party if they have to. We live a normal life, but there is tension. We cannot deny that. What we hope, as Catholic people, is that we could overcome this in God’s grace.”

For more than two decades, the Catholic Church in Venezuela has focused its efforts on humanitarian support rather than formal political mediation. Bishop Villarroel described a range of Church-led programmes: “Feeding programmes, health programmes, formation programmes, and educational initiatives. The people look to the Church for hope at this time to alleviate their suffering.”

He added that Pope Francis had encouraged the Venezuelan bishops to remain close to their people and offer spiritual and pastoral accompaniment amid political uncertainty.

A nation praying for resolution

Bishop Villarroel acknowledged Archbishop Gordon’s request that Trinidadian Catholics pray for peace and stability in Venezuela. “Yes, definitely, we have been doing that,” he said. “We have been asking our priests to pray for a resolution. We are asking our new saints, [St José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros and St María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez, founder of the Servants of Jesus], to intercede, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have been praying for 26 years for this bill.”

The Bishop expressed profound appreciation for the solidarity and hospitality shown to Venezuelan migrants. “Migrants have come here because of the crisis,” he said. “But we really appreciate everything—every word, every meal, because not everybody does that. Our dream, every Venezuelan’s dream, is to go back to Venezuela, to our land. Thank you so much, Trinidad.”

He concluded with a blessing, invoking the patron saints of both nations: “I want to give my blessing to Trinidad and Tobago, to the people and to our migrants here. May Our Lady of Coromoto, patroness of Venezuela, bless you, and may the Immaculate Conception, your patroness, bless this country and everyone in it.”

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