The nuncio invited Venezuelans to face this moment with trust in God and mutual support. “Now is the time to lift our eyes to heaven, as the Pope always invites us to do, to find strength and the consolation of God,” he noted.

He then encouraged the whole of society to mobilize in favor of those most affected by the catastrophe.

“This is also the moment for charity, the moment for solidarity, the moment to help all the victims, all those affected, to make present through concrete gestures the closeness and charity of the Lord as well,” he expressed.

In the final part of his address, Monsignor Ortega made an appeal for unity in facing the reconstruction of the country after the earthquake.

“It is time to rebuild together, together to move forward from this sad situation,” he affirmed.

The nuncio concluded his message with a prayer for the deceased, the injured, and all those suffering the consequences of the quake, entrusting the Venezuelan people to the protection of Our Lady of Coromoto.

“A very special prayer for the victims, for the deceased, for their families, for the injured, for those who are suffering, and may we all take refuge in the protection of the Lord and also in the protection of our Mother, the Virgin of Coromoto. May God bless you,” he concluded.

In 17th-century Venezuela, the leader of the Coromoto people was unexpectedly chosen by Our Lady to help bring the Gospel to his tribe. Like Jonah fleeing God’s command, this chief tried—twice—to escape what Mary asked of him.

The first time Mary appeared, in 1651, she invited him to be baptized and to lead his people into the Christian faith. The chief listened… but only halfway. Afraid that becoming Christian might weaken his authority or change how others saw him, he refused baptism and discouraged his people from receiving it as well. Some went forward anyway. Many followed his hesitation.

A year later, in 1652, Mary returned. Once again, she gently asked him to be baptized. And once again, he resisted.

But Mary, like any loving mother, did not give up.

Before leaving, she placed in his hand a tiny image of herself holding the Child Jesus—no bigger than a fingernail. Not long afterward, the chief was bitten by a poisonous snake and seemed close to death. In that moment, everything became clear. Remembering Mary’s promise that baptism would lead him to heaven, he urgently asked to be baptized.

He survived. And his heart was changed.

Word of the beautiful Lady spread quickly, and devotion to her grew. Soon after the chief’s conversion, the rest of the Coromoto people were baptized as well. A church was built in Mary’s honor in the nearby town of Guanare in the 1700s, and centuries later, a shrine was erected at the very site of her second apparition. Today, both are minor basilicas, and the original tiny image—the relic Mary herself left behind—is preserved there.

That image is one of the most mysterious and intimate Marian relics in the world. When it was carefully studied during a restoration in 2009, experts discovered that its details—like the crowns worn by Mary and Jesus—perfectly reflect the indigenous culture of 17th-century Venezuela. Even more astonishing, the image does not appear to be painted on the paper. Like Our Lady of Guadalupe’s tilma, it seems to hover upon it, without ink soaking into the fibers. How it was made remains a miracle.

In 1942, the bishops of Venezuela declared Our Lady of Coromoto the nation’s patroness. Pope Pius XII confirmed this in 1949. She is celebrated on September 8, September 11, and February 2.