Over the past week, Chavez has said that Christ would whip church leaders for lying. Cardinal Jorge Urosa countered he was right to warn the Vatican that Chavez is curbing freedoms.
Some parishioners are concerned over the tensions between Chavez and conservative priests, who are speaking out against what they see as the socialist leader's increasing authoritarianism. Venezuela is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Polls consistently show the church, which wields significant influence, is among the nation's most respected institutions.
"I don't like the insults that Chavez hurled against the cardinal, but I don't like seeing the Church getting involved in politics either," said Amanda Ortiz, 47, after going to Sunday Mass at a church in downtown Caracas.
"Both sides are losing respect for each other." During one recent speech, Chavez accused Urosa of misleading the Vatican with warnings that Venezuela is drifting toward dictatorship. During another public address, he urged the Vatican to replace Urosa, while heaping praise on a government-friendly priest he thinks should be appointed cardinal.
"May God forgive him, because he knows that he's lying.
The cardinal who accuses me of running roughshod over the constitution knows that he's lying," Chavez said. "If Christ were to physically appear, what would he do with them? I have no doubt that he'd whip them." Chavez, who served as an altar boy growing up in Venezuela's sun-baked plains region, remains a Catholic and sometimes jokes that he could have become a priest himself.
He also often declares that his government's policies are strikingly similar to values outlined in the Bible.
Urosa has stood by his words, and the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference has defended him.
"Unfortunately, the president considers everything that doesn't go along with his manner of thinking to be a personal attack," said Monsignor Jesus Gonzalez, a representative of the conference.
"There is only one, united church," he told the local Globovision television channel.
Urosa argues that Chavez aims to copy Cuba's communist model, something the president denies. The cardinal has raised concerns the president is borrowing tactics from his close allies — Raul and Fidel Castro — to sideline adversaries and muffle dissent.
The cardinal cites the government's refusal this year to renew the licenses of dozens of radio stations, effectively removing them from the airwaves.
Urosa also notes the predominantly pro-Chavez National Assembly has approved legislation taking power away from elected officials sided with the opposition while another ally, the attorney general, has filed criminal charges against several prominent media executives and government foes.
