Add communion wafers to the list of goods facing shortages in Venezuela.
The socialist nation has been suffering from food crises for years, including shortages of grain and wheat used to make the sacramental bread.
Father Edward Molina, a priest in the city of Mérida, told the Catholic newspaper La Croix that the church has been forced to “appeal to churchgoers to take flour to the nuns who make the hosts” ahead of Easter.
Shortages of certain goods, including milk, butter, coffee, sugar, meat and toilet paper, have been common in Venezuela in the wake of the drop in the price of oil and price controls enacted by the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.
A full 71 percent of Venezuelans identify as Roman Catholic, and an additional 17 percent as Protestant or another form of Christianity, PJ Media reported.
In anticipation of the Easter rush, the church in Venezuela has been scrambling to ensure it has enough bread to administer the holy sacrament.
Members of the Catholic diocese of Cúcuta, Colombia, crossed the border through heavy rains this week to deliver 250,000 wafers.
To “increase the number of communion wafers,” Fr. Molina said, “they are divided in two in order that more people can take communion.”
Bread and wine shortages were also reported by priests in Venezuela ahead of Holy Week in 2013.
Venezuela responded to bread shortages last year by imprisoning several bakers and temporarily seizing their bakeries.
The government accused the bakers of engaging in a “bread war” by illegally using government-imported flour to bake sweet rolls, croissants and other delicacies that can be sold without price controls.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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