VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo received Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the Vatican on Monday, the Holy See said.

There were no details about the audience, with the Vatican publishing Machado’s name in a list of people received by the US pope Monday morning.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to an AFP request for more information about the meeting.

The papal audience came the same day as Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that two Italians, Alberto Trentini and Mario Burlo, held since November 2024 in Venezuela, had been released and were on their way home.

Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in December, has been sidelined by Washington in the wake of the US intervention in Venezuela that toppled President Nicolas Maduro.