Rome, Italy
AP

Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday, during which the Venezuelan leader asked him to intercede for the release of hundreds of political prisoners held in the Latin American country.

The meeting, which hadn’t been previously included in the list of Leo’s planned appointments, was later listed by the Vatican in its daily bulletin, without adding details.


This image released by Vatican Media shows Pope Leo XIV meeting with Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado of Venezuela, right, inside his private library at the Vatican, on Monday, 12th January, 2026. PICTURE: Vatican Media via AP, HO.

Machado is touring Europe and the United States after she reemerged in December after 11 months in hiding to accept her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

“Today I had the blessing and honor of being able to share with His Holiness and express our gratitude for his continued support of what is happening in our country,” Machado said in a statement following the meeting.

“I also conveyed to him the strength of the Venezuelan people who remain steadfast and in prayer for the freedom of Venezuela, and I asked him to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared,” she added.

Machado also held talks with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who was Nuncio in Venezuela from 2009 to 2013.

VENEZUELA SAYS 116 PRISONERS RELEASED AS RIGHTS GROUP CITES LOWER FIGURE

Venezuela’s government said on Monday that 116 prisoners have been released “in the past few hours,” according to a statement from the Penitentiary Services Ministry, though rights groups reported a lower figure.

The government statement follows three days of reports from rights organizations about delays in the releases, which the Foro Penal group said earlier on Monday had reached only 41, including 24 people freed overnight.

The releases come after a week of political turmoil in Caracas following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States, and his appearance in a New York court on drug trafficking charges.

Those freed had been “deprived of their liberty for acts associated with disrupting the constitutional order and undermining the stability of the nation,” the ministry said.

The release of hundreds of political prisoners in the South American country is a long-running demand of human rights groups, international bodies and opposition figures.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump this week, has been one of the main voices calling for the release of prisoners that include some of her close allies.

Machado was in the Vatican on Monday, where she met Pope Leo.

The head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, had said on Thursday that a significant number of prisoners, both foreign and Venezuelan, would be released. He is the brother of acting President Delcy Rodriguez.

According to Foro Penal, at least 800 people were being held as political prisoners at the beginning of the year in Venezuela. The government denies that there are detainees held for political reasons.

– Reuters

We rely on our readers to fund Sight’s work – become a financial supporter today!

Pope Leo has called for Venezuela to remain an independent country after US forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro in his compound in Caracas and took him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.

Leo had said he was following the developments in Venezuela with “deep concern,” and urged the protection of human and civil rights in the Latin American country.

Venezuela’s opposition, backed by consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations in the US, had vowed for years to immediately replace Maduro with one of their own and restore democracy to the oil-rich country. But US President Donald Trump delivered them a heavy blow by allowing Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to assume control.

Meanwhile, most opposition leaders, including Machado, are in exile or prison.

After winning the 2025 Nobel Prize for Peace, Machado said she’d like to give it to or share with Trump.

Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced. Trump has coveted and openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office in January, 2025.

The organisation that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize – the Norwegian Nobel Institute – said, however, that once it’s announced, the prize can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.

“The decision is final and stands for all time,” it said in a short statement last week.