The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, met this Monday (12) with Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, and asked him to intercede for political prisoners and for the “progress without delay” of the transition to democracy in Venezuela.
“Today I had the blessing and honor of being able to share with His Holiness and express our gratitude for his monitoring of what is happening in our country,” said the opponent and Nobel Peace Prize winner on the X social network of her National Campaign Command.
“I also conveyed to him the strength of the Venezuelan people, who remain firm and in prayer for the freedom of Venezuela, and I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and missing,” he added.
The audience between the pontiff and the opposition leader was a surprise, but was confirmed by the Holy See in its daily bulletin.
The meeting took place 10 days after the US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas and took them to New York to be tried for federal crimes related to drug trafficking.
Machado defended the legitimacy of President Edmundo González Urrutia after the civic action of the July 28, 2024 elections.
After the meeting with the pope, the opposition leader also met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was nuncio, permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See, between 2009 and 2013 in Venezuela.
María Corina Machado’s visit to the Vatican came after American President Donald Trump spoke about his intention to receive her, probably this week.
Leo XIV referred to the crisis in Venezuela on several occasions, the last of which was last Friday, during a long speech to the diplomatic corps with access to the Holy See.
On the occasion, the Pope asked that the will of the Venezuelan people be respected and peaceful solutions be sought, away from “partisan interests”.
The Vatican has been closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela and The Washington Post published last Friday that the Papal State had tried to negotiate an offer of asylum in Russia for Nicolás Maduro, before his capture and detention by American forces.
