Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and co-founder of CatholicVote, was summoned on Christmas Eve by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who wanted to find out whether the U.S. planned to exclusively take action regarding drug trafficking or try to change leadership in Venezuela, the Washington Post reported Jan. 9, based on government documents it received.
Cardinal Parolin had also been trying to contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the documents, to try to avoid violence in the South American country, even though he agreed that Nicolás Maduro shouldn’t be in power, the Post reported. The cardinal said Russia was prepared to give Maduro asylum, and that the U.S. should patiently wait for Maduro to leave Venezuela rather than take action against him there.
The U.S. military, however, captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro, early Jan. 3, to have them face trial in federal court, as CatholicVote reported. About 75 people were killed, according to the Post.
Yet, the Vatican press office told the Post, “It is disappointing that parts of a confidential conversation were disclosed that do not accurately reflect the content of the conversation itself, which took place during the Christmas period.” Burch’s spokesperson, meanwhile, told the Post to contact the State Department, which decided not to comment in response to the outlet’s inquiry. Neither was the Post able to get a comment from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The comments the Post did receive were mostly from anonymous sources.
The Post reported that the Trump administration shifted its strategy for Venezuela by backing Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as Nicolás Maduro’s preferred successor, concluding that she had a better chance of winning military and elite support than opposition leader María Corina Machado, partly because of a classified CIA assessment that suggested Machado would struggle to overcome entrenched pro-regime security forces. Though publicly a staunch Chavista, Rodríguez had privately built trust with U.S. oil interests, foreign investors, and regional mediators, earning a reputation as pragmatic and reliable.
Diplomatic efforts involving Qatar, Russia, and the Vatican explored exile options for Maduro, but he repeatedly refused, misjudging U.S. resolve, the Post reported. Vatican officials urged restraint and dialogue, expressing confusion about Washington’s endgame.
Since Maduro’s removal, Rodríguez’s attitude toward the U.S. has fluctuated, and “authority is fractured” in the country.
The Trump administration is confident it made the right choice, citing cooperation from interim authorities, limited political prisoner releases, and renewed oil exports.
Pope Leo XIV, however, said Jan. 9 that “a diplomacy that promotes dialogue” was being replaced by “diplomacy based on force.”
According to the Post, the Pope warned that a lust for war is spreading.
>> Trump administration lays out 3-point plan for Venezuela after Maduro’s capture <<
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