BBC News Online: World: Americas

Venezuelan Bishop investigated

Reports from Venezuela say the Attorney General's office has launched an investigation into the bank accounts of the president of the country's Roman Catholic Bishop's Conference.

The president of the conference, the bishop of Merida, Baltazar Porras, was accused last month of corruption by the governor of Merida state.

He said the bishop and the management of a hospital in Merida some seven-hundred kilometres south-west of Caracas had misappropriated government funds for the hospital.

Venezuela's bishops have strongly rejected the accusations against Bishop Porras.

The Bishop himself has said they are part of an official campaign to discredit the Catholic Church in Venezuela.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service