United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived at the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Leo XIV, seen as an effort to mend ties after repeated public barbs from President Donald Trump aimed at the pontiff.
The private audience is expected to last about half an hour on Thursday, after which Rubio will meet Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
This is the first known meeting between Pope Leo and an official from the Trump administration in nearly a year. Parolin said the visit was requested by the United States and that the pope would listen attentively to Rubio’s remarks.
“I imagine they’ll talk about everything that has happened in recent days,” Parolin told reporters, according to Reuters.
Relations between Trump and Pope Leo have soured amid a barrage of criticism from the US president after the pope publicly opposed the US-Israel war on Iran, drawing pushback from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.
Trump’s most recent attack, on Monday, accused the pope of “endangering a lot of Catholics” by opposing the war and falsely implied the pontiff supported Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.
Pope Leo denied endorsing nuclear arms, reiterating the Church’s long-standing position that such weapons are immoral.
“The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace,” the pope said. “The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear arms – on that there is no doubt.”
‘Frank’ conversations
Brian Burch, the US ambassador to the Holy See, told journalists that the exchange between the pope and Rubio was likely to be “frank.”
Parolin described Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo as “strange,” saying he did not wish to make personal judgements about the matter.
Rubio is also scheduled to meet Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has defended the pope against Trump’s criticisms.
Pope Leo has become more vocal on international issues in recent weeks. During a four-country trip to Africa he said the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” a remark he later said was not aimed at Trump.
On Friday, Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, will mark his first year as leader of the Catholic Church, which has about 1.4 billion members.