Pope meets Venezuelan Nobel Prize laureate Maria Machado

Pope with Maria Machado. Image Vatican Media

Source: Vatican Media

At the end of a Monday morning filled with meetings at the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo XIV received Maria Corina Machado, the former member of the Venezuelan National Assembly who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025.

The meeting took place about 10 days after the US military attack on January 3 in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas during which around 80 people were killed and President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured and taken to America.

The couple are now being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where they have been indicted for drug trafficking, narco terrorism and weapons charges.

A devout Catholic, Machado leads Venezuela's liberal-conservative party 'Vente Venezuela' which has always opposed Maduro's government. (Critics objected to her winning the Nobel Peace Prize partly because of her strong support for Israel and the bombing of Gaza, which many see as contradictory to the principles of peace the prize represents. Additionally, she has called for foreign intervention in Venezuela to overthrow the Maduro regime, a stance that some view as promoting conflict rather than peace.)

But aside from the Nobel Peace Prize, she was named one of BBC's 100 Women in 2018, and listed among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2025. In 2024, Machado received the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize and the Sakharov Prize (shared with González) for representing Venezuelans fighting for democracy.

During his Angelus address on January 4 - the day after Maduro's capture - Pope Leo said he was following developments in Venezuela "with deep concern."

"The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration. This must lead to the overcoming of violence, and to the pursuit of paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country," the Pope had said from the window of the Apostolic Palace.

He called for the respect of "the human and civil rights of each and every person" and to work "together to build a peaceful future of cooperation, stability and harmony, with special attention to the poorest who are suffering because of the difficult economic situation."

Pope Leo reiterated his appeal during his January 9 meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Referring to Venezuela, he urged efforts to build "a society founded on justice, truth, freedom and fraternity, and thus enable the nation to rise from the grave crisis that has afflicted it for so many years."

He also invited all to "respect the will of the Venezuelan people, and to safeguard the human and civil rights of all, ensuring a future of stability and concord."

Machado is expected in Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, later to this week, according to statements made by him.