Pope Leo: ‘The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration.’

In his first public comments since the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, Pope Leo XIV called for “safeguarding the country’s sovereignty” and “ensuring the rule of law enshrined in the [Venezuelan] Constitution.”

Speaking at his Sunday Angelus on Jan. 4, the American-born pope said he was following developments in Venezuela “with deep concern,” adding, “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, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in its Constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each and every person, and working 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,” the pope said.

Mr. Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. special forces in a nighttime raid on Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas on Jan. 3. They have been taken to the United States, where they are expected to be charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The attack followed weeks of escalating tensions between the two nations, as the United States accused Maduro of being a “narco-terrorist” and sought to interdict shipping coming to and from the South American nation. Venezuelan officials said at least 40 Venezuelans were killed in the American attack. 

The latest economic pressure from the United States has only added to Venezuela’s already serious fiscal woes: Venezuela’s economy has shrunk to just 28 percent of what it was when Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund. The last 12 years have also seen hyperinflation, human rights abuses and shortages of food and medicine, prompting mass emigration from the country.

These issues are well-known to the Vatican’s top diplomatic leadership. Pope Leo’s former diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, saw an influx of Venezuelan refugees during his time as bishop, and Leo opened soup kitchens in response. The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was a nuncio—a role similar to an ambassador—in Venezuela from 2009 to 2013. The “number two” in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State is Venezuelan Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra.

Speaking to journalists aboard the papal plane in early December, Pope Leo said that the Vatican was working with its ambassador and the bishops’ conference of Venezuela “to calm the situation, seeking above all the good of the people, because in these situations it is often the people who suffer, not the authorities.”

Acknowledging that the messages out of the United States regarding Maduro were changing often, Leo said that it would be better for the United States to “seek ways to dialogue: perhaps some form of pressure, even economic pressure, but looking for another way to bring about change” rather than “an operation or invading Venezuelan territory.”