VATICAN CITY — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado used a meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Monday to emphasize the legitimacy of the opposition’s 2024 election victory and raise concern about political prisoners.
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, is pushing to make the U.S. capture this month of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro only the first step in the country’s evolution from authoritarian socialism to full democracy.
The Trump administration for years called the Maduro regime illegitimate, supported the beleaguered opposition and pressed for change. But with Maduro in U.S. custody on federal narco-terrorism charges, Trump has sidelined the opposition to work instead with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president and close ally.
The Holy See has emerged as a significant interlocutor among the parties deciding Venezuela’s future. In December, as U.S. forces massed off the country’s coast, blew up boats suspected of carrying drugs and boarded ships carrying Venezuelan oil, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the No. 2 official at the Vatican, warned U.S. officials against rash action in Venezuela and tried to nudge Maduro toward a Russian offer of asylum, The Washington Post has reported.
Publicly, Machado and other opposition figures have hailed Maduro’s capture and praised Trump for ordering it. But privately, they’ve been alarmed by the decision to back Rodríguez, whom the first Trump administration accused of human rights violations. The opposition is now locked in a tug-of-war with the socialist state for recognition as Venezuela’s legitimate government.
Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, won an opposition primary to challenge Maduro in the 2024 election but was barred by the regime from running. Her stand-in, the former diplomat Edmundo González, won more than two-thirds of the vote, audits by The Post and other independent monitors showed. But Maduro claimed reelection and stayed in power.
Machado has argued that a transition to democracy would help improve the political, economic and security conditions that have driven millions of Venezuelans out of their broken nation and would encourage many to return. The Chicago-born pope worked with Venezuelan migrants while serving the Catholic Church in Peru.
After the meetings, Machado said she had emphasized the legitimacy of González’s victory and her concern that the government was not releasing political prisoners quickly enough. With the efforts of the United States and the Catholic Church, she said in a statement, “the defeat of evil in the country is closer.”
She said she “conveyed” to the pope “the strength of the Venezuelan people, who remain firm and in prayer for Venezuela’s freedom, and I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped or missing.”
The Vatican did not provide a readout, but a person familiar with the meetings confirmed that Machado spoke of a democratic transition, political prisoners and how restoring democracy could lure back refugees who have fled. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said Machado held an extended conversation with Leo and then a “very warm” one-on-one with Parolin, whom she has known for many years.
Machado, a Catholic, is often presented by supporters with rosaries as tokens of support. Her visit to the Vatican underscores the extent to which the Holy See is viewed as an arbiter on the future of the country. It also suggests how Machado is seeking to make her case against the notion that Maduro’s inner circle can be allowed to continue to rule the country.
After Maduro’s capture, Trump called Machado a “very nice woman” but said she lacked “respect” and “support” in Venezuela.
Trump was displeased by Machado’s decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, The Post has reported, an award the president coveted. Machado told Fox News last week that she looked forward to thanking Trump personally for Maduro’s capture and that the Venezuelan people “certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.” Trump said he would meet Machado this week, calling it a “a great honor” should she opt to give him the prize.
After Trump’s comment, the Nobel Committee said the prize cannot be shared or transferred.
Parolin, in an urgent Christmas Eve meeting with Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, expressed caution about Machado’s ability to lead a transition, according to U.S. documents obtained by The Post. Parolin suggested she might be inflexible in working with regime members in a post-Maduro Venezuela.
In a statement to The Post, the Vatican acknowledged the meeting but questioned the accuracy of the account.
A decade ago, the Vatican tried and failed to work out a deal between Maduro and the fractured opposition. More recently, the Vatican sought dialogue with the Venezuelan government through its senior clerics in the country, and Leo cautioned the United States against the use of force.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last week said two Italian citizens had been freed from prison in Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner release announced by the interim government. The Italian government dispatched a plane from Rome to fly home Alberto Trentini, an aide worker from Venice, and Mario Burlo, a Turin businessman.
The releases of Trentini and Burlo were part of what Venezuelan officials have called a gesture of good faith, and Meloni thanked Rodríguez personally. Human rights groups and others have raised concerns over the scope of the releases.
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