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10/18/2007 3:33 AM

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Associated Press

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Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, who was a prominent critic of President Hugo Chavez, died Tuesday at age 85, a Catholic Church representative said.

Bishop Ovidio Perez Morales told Globovision television that the cause of death was not immediately clear.

Castillo Lara accused Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian. At one point, he even recommended an exorcism for the socialist president.

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During one of his final Masses, Castillo Lara said that under Chavez's rule "fundamental democratic principles are ignored or violated (and) human rights are frequently infringed upon."

Chavez has repeatedly clashed with church leaders, lambasting the Catholic leadership as "liars" and "perverts." He once called Castillo Lara "a hypocrite, bandit and devil with a cassock."

Born in 1922 in the central state of Aragua, Castillo Lara was ordained as a priest in 1949 and appointed cardinal on May 25, 1986, by Pope John Paul II. As a Salesian emphasizing charity toward the young, particularly the poor, he became a law professor and served as secretary of the Vatican's Commission for the Revision of Canonic Law.

©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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