Vatican Confirms Private Audience Between Pope Leo XIV and Venezuela’s María Corina Machado

Overview

• Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, met the Pope in a private audience on Jan. 12 at the Vatican.
• The Holy See listed the audience only in the Pontiff’s daily schedule, offered no details or images, and had not flagged it in a prior press advisory.
• The meeting comes days after reports that U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro in a Jan. 3 military operation.
• In a recent address to the diplomatic corps, Pope Leo XIV urged respect for the Venezuelan people’s will and criticized the use of military force for diplomatic ends.
• The Washington Post has reported that the Vatican sought asylum for Maduro and that Cardinal Pietro Parolin urgently called in the U.S. ambassador to ask about Washington’s plans.