How Vatican diplomats tried to resolve the Trump-Maduro standoff
by Kevin Clarke January 16, 2026
American Catholics may have been surprised to learn through a report in The Washington Post of the significant involvement of Vatican diplomats in negotiations to resolve the standoff between the Trump administration and the Maduro government in Venezuela.
While the rest of the Catholic world enjoyed its Christmas Eve, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin was meeting with Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, discussing a deal that would allow Venezuela’s President Nicholás Maduro to escape toa comfortable exile in Russiabefore shots might be fired. Vatican officials in the end were unable to persuade Mr. Maduro to accept that option before his defenestration by U.S. Special Forces on Jan. 3.
Veteran Vatican journalist Victor Gaetan was less surprised by The Post’s account of the frenetic last-minute diplomacy aimed at the peaceful removal of Mr. Maduro. Mr. Gaetan is the author of God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy and America’s Armageddon.
He saw in it a familiar example of the Vatican’s engaged and patient diplomacy—though this account offered a few surprises. Among those, Mr. Gaetan was impressed by the apparent reach of Vatican officials into Vladimir Putin’s inner circle in Moscow.
He described the report as “a reaffirmation of the way Vatican diplomacy works.” Cardinal Parolin was using “existing relations to do what the Vatican always does—and that is to seek to promote dialogue and avoid bloodshed.”
Mr. Gaetan noted the challenging diplomatic dynamics at play: the implacable Americans, jockeying business executives, officials in Russia and Turkey trying to create a credible out for the Venezuelan leader and the recalcitrant Mr. Maduro himself—for his own reasons resisting the attempt to end the standoff without violence. He said the episode speaks to the professionalism of the Vatican diplomats and the trust these disparate players were willing to place in them as the negotiations continued.
“Parolin was proactive in regard to trying to find a soft landing for Maduro because he has had excellent relations in Venezuela from the time he was the nuncio there,” Mr. Gaetan said, “and he also has [had for decades] good relationships with U.S. diplomats.” In recent years, the cardinal has proved to be a reliable and effective intermediary in negotiations around the edges of the devastating war in Ukraine.
The Maduro drama, he suggested, represents a hallmark of Vatican diplomacy—an insistence that dialogue, not violence, should direct international relations.
Cardinal Parolin’s deep connections in Venezuela no doubt made his outreach easier, but it was not because of those personal relationships that he became involved in the ultimately unsuccessful effort to extract Mr. Maduro. Vatican diplomats are opportunistic, Mr. Gaetan said, ready to intercede anytime with anyone if they perceive an opening to resolve tensions before disputing parties turn to violent means to achieve their ends.
The Vatican’s diplomatic reach rivals that of any superpower. The Holy See holds permanent observer status at the United Nations and maintains diplomatic relations with 184 nations, the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It participates in scores of international governing bodies. Under Pope Francis, it extended its diplomatic reach to the global margins with appointments and cardinalate elevations in Asia and through new overtures to religious and political leaders in Muslim nations.
“Connections that have been developed throughout the years are everywhere important,” Mr. Gaetan said. “We see this all the time—the capacity, the dexterity of Vatican diplomats to entertain relations [across] the religious spectrum and political spectrum in any given country, including in the United States.”
And why do diplomats across political and ideological boundaries welcome Holy See interventions? Vatican diplomacy “is recognized by everyone” to “have no biased interests,” Mr. Gaetan said.
“They have no political, no economic, no military interests, and they are trusted; their advice has proven to be beneficial,” he said. “This is the record of Vatican diplomacy.”
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/weekly-dispatch/2026/01/16/venezuela-vatican-pastoral-diplomacy-maduro/