During a political event broadcast on the state channel, Nicolás Maduro showed before the cameras alleged gifts sent by Pope Leo XIV after the canonization of the first Venezuelan saintsJosé Gregorio Hernández and mother Carmen Rendiles. However, This information was publicly denied by the correspondent of EWTN in Spanish, Andrés I. Henríquez.
In a publication in the social networkthe journalist, specialized in Vatican affairs, assured that The objects that the president showed during a political event, a medal and a book, were not delivered by the pontiff.
“Although it is evident, it is worth clarifying that Pope Leo XIV did NOT send any gift to Maduro,” he wrote in the publication.
Henríquez explained that The medal in question can be purchased at the Vatican or any nearby store, and that the supposed book blessed by the Pope is nothing more than the missal given to all attendees during the canonization mass.
“They give him a medal that can be bought at the Vatican or any nearby store. And that ‘book’ is nothing more than the missal that they gave to everyone at the canonization mass. A shame,” he wrote.
The correspondent accompanied his message with photographs that confirm his version, also pointing out that the medal exhibited by Maduro does not have the image of José Gregorio Hernández, but that of San Pedro, and that its cost is around $37.
Maduro claimed to have received gifts blessed by Leo XIV
Maduro had shown the medal before the camerasassuring: “Here came José Gregorio, they brought him to me blessed by the Pope, they just gave him to me blessed by Pope León, here is José Gregorio, look, miraculous, powerful and ours.”
The message was reproduced by official media, which interpreted the gesture as a “symbol of fraternity between the Catholic Church and the Venezuelan government.”
