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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The top spokesman for Venezuela's leftist government insisted on Monday that the pope's condemnation of Marxism wasn't directed at President Hugo Chavez, who says he's steering Venezuela toward "21st century socialism."
"We all know that the current pope is characterized as a conservative man, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we must automatically think that any word he utters ... is against Venezuela," Information Minister Willian Lara told state television.
Pope Benedict XVI concluded a trip to neighboring Brazil on Sunday by telling a bishop's conference that Marxism — as well as unchecked capitalism and globalization — were to blame for many of the region's problems.
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