Former U.S. ambassador to Holy See weighs in on Vatican diplomacy in Venezuela, U.S.

Jan 17, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Francis Rooney, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, said Pope Leo XIV’s papacy marks a period of opportunity for the Church in the U.S. in an interview this week with “EWTN News In Depth.”

The former diplomat and congressman highlighted Leo’s measured approach to diplomacy in light of U.S. involvement in Venezuela. “He’s always calm, he’s always careful, and he’s very judicious in his comments,” Rooney said in a report that aired Jan. 16.

“The Holy See has a long tradition of intervening in hostage situations and situations of marginalized people or people under great stress and change, like a regime change,” Rooney said.

The Vatican’s move to host opposition leader María Corina Machado this week, he said, likely had diplomatic intentions to strengthen her standing.

“I think it’s predictable that [Pope Leo XIV] would want to shore up her position on the international stage as well as he can,” Rooney said. “So a pre-Trump meeting with the Holy Father is a global expression of her importance right now.”

Reacting to a speech by Pope Leo to diplomats at the Vatican, during which the Holy Father lamented that “peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good,” Rooney pointed out that while Leo does not do so in the same manner as Pope Francis, “he speaks very clearly and says a lot of the same things.”

“[Leo’s] willing to call out bad activities by world leaders. He’s willing to call out the actions of Trump undermining the post-World War II order and creating potential consequences of bad actions by other people like North Korea, Russia, China,” he said, adding: “He’s not at all like Pope Francis. He’s calm, deliberate.”

Rooney served as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 to 2008. He was a Republican member of the U.S. House from Florida from 2017 to 2021.

“The Church has a love-hate relationship with the United States. They resent our power, but they love our money, and they love our number of Catholics in the United States,” he said. “So this is an opportunity for Pope Leo to close that gap, earn more respect for the United States for the important role it plays in the Church, and also in Latin America.”

U.S. President Donald Trump met with Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Jan. 12. Rooney, whose congressional Florida district included Fort Myers and Naples, speculated the closed meeting likely revolved around immigration.

“We have Alligator Alcatraz down here near where we live, and a lot of migrants are being kicked out of the country who have no criminal record,” Rooney said. “I think most Americans would agree that we need workers. If theyve been living here a long time, some of their kids have gone to school with our kids, they should be able to stay and have an orderly rational plan for citizenship like President George W. Bush tried to accomplish but didn’t get it done.”

“On the other hand, if they’re criminals, they should go. I don’t think anybody would argue that we shouldn’t police the border and have a strong border,” he said, concluding that Coakley and the president likely “spoke about that a great deal.”

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