Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop on 9 July 2018.[5]
Urosa rejected the creation of the Reformed Catholic Church in Venezuela, whose representatives were introduced in July 2008, as in line with the socialism of President Hugo Chávez. He called the group "an irregular association".[6]
Urosa and his auxiliary bishops warned against using the mass for political purposes and declared that the mass at which a blessing was given to the President-elect of Paraguay, former bishop Fernando Lugo, was not authorized by the archdiocese.[7]
Illness and death
On 27 August 2021, Urosa was admitted to a clinic in Caracas and diagnosed with COVID-19. He received the sacrament of the sick before being transferred to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator. On 3 September 2021, the Caracas archdiocese denied rumours circulating in the media that the cardinal had died but said the cardinal's health was in a delicate but stable condition and he was receiving all the necessary medical interventions in the intensive care ward.[8] On 12 September, the archdiocese said the cardinal's health had deteriorated and he was in very delicate health.[9] Cardinal Urosa died from the virus on 23 September 2021, after being hospitalized for a month.[10]
