Pope Leo on Monday met Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado at the Vatican, according to a brief statement from the Holy See. No further details about the meeting were disclosed.
The encounter appeared on the pope’s official list of appointments for the day but was not included in an earlier advisory issued to the press, suggesting it was arranged privately.
The meeting comes amid heightened international attention on Venezuela following the controversial capture of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces acting on the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump. Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the United States, has publicly called for Venezuela’s sovereignty to be respected and for the country to remain independent.
In a major foreign policy address on Friday, the pope strongly criticised the use of military force as a tool for diplomacy and urged the international community to prioritise human rights and peaceful solutions in Venezuela.
Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, was barred by authorities aligned with Maduro from contesting the country’s 2024 general election. She instead supported a substitute candidate who was widely believed by observers to have won the vote, despite Maduro claiming victory.
Independent audits of the election reportedly revealed irregularities in the official results, fuelling ongoing political tensions and international scrutiny of Venezuela’s democratic process.