Head of State: José Gregorio was the founder of social medicine in Venezuela and in Latin America

Published at: 19/10/2025 06:49 AM

After thanking Pope Francis for promoting the canonization of Saint Joseph Gregorio Hernández, the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro Moros, recalled that it was in 2013, during his visit to the former supreme pontiff, that this process began, which was consecrated this Sunday with the official sanctity of the “Doctor of the Poor”.

“I went to visit the pope in June 2013 and June 17, 2013 and I brought a wooden statuette made by artisans from Trujillo to travel there. I left Trujillo because there was an act for the 200th anniversary of the decree of war death I remember and they gave me the statuette I wore it warm made of wood and I brought it as a gift and when I talked to the Pope, I gave him the statuette of José Gregorio and he said to me 'what is that Maduro? ' And I started talking to him about José Gregorio, the first time I heard him talk about José Gregorio, and that's when a friendship began around the cause of José Gregorio,” he said.

He noted that after this meeting, Francisco “became so sensitized that he became a devotee of José Gregorio Hernández.”

He pointed out that the holiness of José Gregorio Hernández is the recognition of the faith and dedication of this Venezuelan doctor, whom he did not hesitate to call the “founder of social medicine in Venezuela and in Latin America.”

“This was founded by José Gregorio Hernández here in this city and in these lands of Venezuela, so all the practical force of action is perfectly combined because love for God must be converted into love for the human being, for the family, for your country, for your country, for your country, for your country, love cannot be ethereal because it is like gas, it evaporates, it is lost, love has to become concrete actions of life, and in this life that we have to live and that we have to live we must leave a mark as left by José Gregorio; love in action, to turn faith in Christ into a permanent work of love,” he said.

Mazo News Team