"Human rights defenders and relatives of Venezuelan journalist and activist Carlos Julio Rojas asked Pope Leo XIV to mediate for his release. Rojas has been in detention for 13 months as of Thursday [May 15] .
'The Supreme Pontiff said that the suffering of imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community,' Francy Fernández, Rojas's wife, was quoted as saying in a statement released by activists.
Fernández said her husband 'is a journalist and union leader who is paying for his commitment to freedom and the right to information with imprisonment.'"
