❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Pope urged the Trump administration not to use military force to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Pope Leo XIV, President Donald J. Trump, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The Pope made the remarks during a flight home from Turkey and Lebanon, following his first overseas trip as pontiff.
💬KEY QUOTE: “It is better to search for ways of dialogue, or perhaps pressure, including economic pressure.” – Pope Leo
🎯IMPACT: The Pope’s comments could influence international discourse on the Trump administration’s approach to Venezuela and its leadership.
Pope Leo XIV has urged the Trump administration not to resort to military action to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, recommending dialogue or economic sanctions as preferable ways to seek political change in the country.
The Trump administration has been weighing different approaches to confront Maduro’s role in funneling narcotics into the United States—a charge the Venezuelan leader firmly rejects.
Speaking to reporters while returning from his inaugural foreign trip, which took him to Turkey and Lebanon, the American-born pontiff directly addressed the prospect of armed intervention: “I truly believe that it is better to look for ways of dialogue, maybe pressure, including economic pressure, but looking another way to change, if that is what they want to do in the United States.”
Later, the pontiff also scolded “people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race,” urging Western countries to be “a little less fearful” of migrants.
Image by Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.