Venezuelan Opposition Leader Meets with Pope Leo

On a mission to lobby for a democratic transition in Venezuela following the questionable capture of President Nicolás Maduro, opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado met Monday with Pope Leo XIV ahead of her trip to Washington to see President Donald Trump.

Machado's previously unannounced meeting with the pontiff, confirmed by the Vatican, came as the Holy See has emerged as a significant interlocutor on the future of Venezuela and as Machado is pushing for a shift from the authoritarian left-wing power structure that remains in place despite the Jan. 3 U.S. mission that seized the Venezuelan leader. In a photo published by the Vatican following the meeting, Machado, clad in a black dress and wearing a white rosary, shook hands as she and Leo smiled.

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and the No. 2 at the Vatican, had sought to caution American officials in December against rash action in Venezuela and to nudge Maduro toward a Russian offer of asylum.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.