Pope ready to visit Venezuela - nuncio

(ANSA) - Caracas, April 7 - Pope Francis is ready to visit Venezuela but he needs to be invited first, the apostolic nuncio in Caracas monsignor Aldo Giordano said Thursday.
    "The pope is very familiar with the current situation in Venezuela and he is ready to visit the country, but he must be invited first," Monsignor Giordano said. The South American country is suffering from major economic hardship and a permanent standoff between the government led by Nicolas Maduro and the national assembly controlled by the opposition.
    Giordano told the local press he had spoken to Pope Francis recently.
    "I told him of the Venezuelan people's desire that his visit become a reality," he is reported to have said.
    "We must all pray that this might happen as soon as possible," Giordano added. On March 30 the Venezuelan parliament approved unanimously a declaration in support of the appeal made by the pope in his Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi message for peace and dialogue in the country. A group of human rights activists chained themselves outside the nunciature in Caracas recently, giving Giordano a letter for Pope Francis asking him to mediate with the government.