He refused to say if the Holy See would recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido in his claim for the presidency, which has been backed by the United States and other regional leaders.
The Vatican has been frustrated in the past in its attempts to mediate between socialist President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela’s opposition, which has the backing of many Venezuelan bishops.
Speaking off the cuff at his Sunday blessing, Pope Francis said he felt particularly close to Venezuelans while he was in Panama.
He “asked the Lord to seek and find a just and peaceful solution to overcome the crisis that respects human rights and exclusively seeks the good of all people”.
The Venezuela crisis has dominated his visit to Panama, both behind the scenes and in public, with the Pope at one point asking out loud if any Venezuelan bishops were on hand at the end of an event.
The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was former ambassador to Venezuela so he knows the situation well.
Francis made the Venezuela comments after he closed out World Youth Day with a Mass in a Panama City field before an estimated 700,000 people and presidents from Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Portugal.
“You dear people are not the future but the now of God,” Francis told the pilgrims draped in flags from across the Americas.
At the end of the service, the…
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