By Eduardo Sanchez

Religion plays an important role in the lives of Latin Americans and Venezuela is no exception. Maduro raised Catholic, uses religious language, either directly referencing the Catholic Church or by using metaphors in everyday situations as part of his discourse in public statements as well as in his social media usage. For Maduro, who lacks Chávez’s charisma, the use of these religious messages and images seems strategic, as a way of endearing himself to the Venezuelan masses.

Maduro gives many contradictory messages in the use of religion. In strongly identifying himself as Catholic, Maduro shows much reverence to the Pope. On a trip to Europe in June 2013, Maduro met with Pope Francis (the first Latin American pope in history) to strengthen ties between the Vatican and Venezuela. This was the first stop of the European tour, being highlighted as one of the most important meeting that Maduro would have with world leaders.

He has re-tweeted Pope Francis on an important number of occasions. For example, in September 2013 he re-tweeted eleven of the Pope’s messages (see Maduro’s feed on Sep. 2 [example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4], Sep. 3, Sep. 4, Sep. 6 [example 1, example 2], Sep. 25, Sep. 26, Sep. 30) most on world peace in the context of a possible military intervention in Syria. Maduro would also quote the pope as the voice of reason to stop the United States and other countries to going on another international war and thus setting the stage for advocating his own views (which matched that of the Pope). This specific context is an example of how he used religion to as a tool to fit his own rhetoric of being strongly opposed to any such intervention by the United States, At the same time by showing that religion (the Pope) was a voice for world peace, he could once again hope to endear himself to Venezuelans.

Not surprisingly, in recent months, he has only re-tweeted the pope approximately five times between October and December with most messages highlighting a Christian way of life centered on love and reducing materialistic tendencies of today’s societies. As the prospects for military intervention in Syria were drastically reduced, these religious messages were used to promote certain social rights, especially those that are compatible with the socialist project that Maduro continues to advance.

Additionally, religious and mystic images have also been attached to Hugo Chávez. In a first instance, Maduro considers himself an “apostle” of Chávez, solidifying the need to continue his legacy not only in terms of the Bolivarian revolution but also with a spiritual-mystical connotation. While Maduro’s position as a successor of Chávez is mostly seen as a political one, he has tried to mix religious concepts to add on to the political context. Maduro does not have and does not present himself as having any such characteristics of Chávez but uses the memory of Chávez for social unification and mobilization.

The messianic qualities that he attaches to the memory of Chávez have been strengthened on a number of occasions almost immediately following Chávez’s death as well as other sporadic events.

In early 2013, Maduro affirmed that Chávez’s spirit came to him in the form of a small bird to bless him. Months later, he again claimed that the same and that the spirit of Chávez was pleased with Maduro’s current performance guiding the country. In November 2013, Maduro was also quick to spread the news about a miraculous event involving the supposed appearance of the image of Chávez on a wall in a construction site.

The use of such messianic imagery, through apparitions and other actions, would seem to equate Chávez to saints and other mystical saviors. This nonetheless has an impact in a Latin American nation that is also fascinated by such stories.

Maduro states that he is Catholic but his Jewish ancestry and his veneration of an Indian spiritual guru have been called into question, especially by the opposition in a move to highlight the contradictions of his discourse. Regarding his Jewish ancestry, most critiques have come from his opposition to the Israeli regime and his strong support of Palestinian and other Arab nations. He has disregarded attacks of him being anti-Semitic precisely stating that his grandparents were Jewish who converted to Catholicism upon arrival to Venezuela. In this case, he seems to push forward his political views at the risk of being seen as someone who is going against his religion.

However, his following of the late Indian guru Sai Baba has sparked the most controversy. In 2005 Maduro visited India with his wife to seek the guru’s blessings and advanced a center in the Venezuelan capital to follow his teachings. This reverence for Sai Baba seems to come more from a genuine desire to seek spiritual salvation than to necessarily see it as a political tool, but it would also count as yet another contradiction from an outside perspective.

Maduro, thus exemplifies someone who is deeply religious and therefore adept in using religion as a political tool.