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Pope Leo: Freedom for Political Prisoners

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To His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church:

As citizens from every corner of the world, we stand with the families of Venezuela’s political prisoners and respectfully ask you to raise your voice for their immediate and unconditional release. Let this historic canonization become not only a celebration of sainthood, but also a moment of justice, compassion, and reconciliation for a nation in pain.
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Pope Leo: Freedom for Political Prisoners
Ten months ago, Jesús Armas stepped out of a café and was abducted by masked men. At a virtual hearing – without his lawyer or family – he was charged with “treason” and more. His real offense: working with the opposition, including leader María Corina Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just two days ago.

He’s now one of the hundreds of people - including women, teenagers, workers, teachers, even police officers - in prison without trial or formal charges, simply for daring to speak out. Many have been tortured, disappeared, or held in total isolation by Maduro’s government. Now, there’s a real chance to help Jesús and hundreds more - but we only have eight days to act!

The Pope will canonize the country’s first saints on October 19. This is a huge deal – and if he mentions the plight of political prisoners in his speech, especially with the recent Nobel spotlight on Venezuela, it could reverberate across deeply Catholic Venezuela and the world, putting President Maduro on the spot to respond.

The families of political prisoners recognize how important this moment is – they are traveling to Rome to make their case to the Vatican. They’ve asked us to back them up with thousands of voices calling for freedom - can you add your name now and share with a friend?

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