Pope Leo XIV received Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado in a private audience on Monday, according to a brief Vatican statement.
The Vatican provided no further details, and the Venezuelan opposition leader’s name was simply included on the list of people received by the Pope that morning.
The papal audience took place on the same day that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that Alberto Trentini and Mario Burlo, two men detained in Venezuela since November 2014, had been released and were on their way home.
Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who will be tried in New York, President Donald Trump said that Machado “has no support or respect in her country.” However, he said he would meet with her this week.
In a message to the diplomatic corps on Friday, the Peruvian-American Pope called for “respect for the will of the Venezuelan people and the safeguarding of the human and civil rights of all.”
The Vatican has been closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela, and The Washington Post reported on January 9 that the Holy See had attempted to negotiate an offer of asylum in Russia for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before his capture and detention by U.S. forces.
