Pope Leo XIV is demanding President Donald Trump find “another way” to handle Venezuela after days of veiled threats and rumors of military action.
The pontiff urged the president to find a way besides violence to achieve America’s goals—supposedly to curb the drug trade—in the South American country.
“It seems there is the possibility that there may be some activity, even an operation to invade Venezuelan territory,” Leo told reporters aboard a flight home from Lebanon on Tuesday.
He continued, “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.”
Trump, 79, accidentally confirmed over the weekend that he spoke by phone with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro. Details of the call remain murky, but reports say Trump ordered the 63-year-old authoritarian leader to relinquish power—something the leader refused to do.
Leo, who was born in Chicago but served as a priest in Peru for decades, said the Catholic Church is actively trying to ease tensions.
“In these situations, it is the people who suffer, not the authorities,” he said.
Under Trump, the U.S. military has carried out multiple strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing at least 83 people.
Critics have described the attacks as extrajudicial murders, particularly a pair of strikes on Sept. 2—the latter of which was to eliminate survivors of the first blow.
Leo, 70, suggested that Trump should “seek dialogue, including economic pressure” before resorting to violence.
Trump has accused Maduro of being involved in narcotrafficking. However, his priorities appear to be jumbled, as he just pardoned a former Honduran president who was convicted of trafficking cocaine into the United States last year.
Venezuela was not the only topic of Leo’s news conference that is sure to catch Trump’s attention. He also criticized the president—and European leaders—for being so anti-migrant.
“Stories, testimonies, witnesses that we heard even in the past few days, how people helping each other, Christians with Muslims, I think those are lessons that will be important also to be heard in Europe or North America,” the pontiff said.
In the wake of an Afghan national murdering a National Guard soldier and critically injuring another last week, the Trump administration has taken steps to slow—or outright halt—migration from certain countries, including Venezuela and Afghanistan.
Leo urged Western leaders to be “less fearful” toward migrants, adding that a fear of Muslims is “generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.”
