US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Leo XIV in what is seen as an attempt to repair relations after President Donald Trump’s repeated barbs against the Pontiff.
This comes after US President Donald Trump’s broadsides against Pope Leo XIV for his opposition to the Iran war angered the Holy See and sparked ongoing sparring between them.
This is the first known meeting between the Pope and a Trump government official in nearly a year.
Rubio also met with the Vatican Secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The US State Department said that the meetings with Leo and the Vatican’s top diplomat covered peace in the Middle East and “underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See,” and reflected the “enduring partnership” between them.
Rubio, a practicing Catholic, had an audience first with Leo, which was complicated at the last minute by Trump’s latest criticism of the Chicago-born Pope. Leo has pushed back, calling out Trump’s misrepresentations of his views on Iran and nuclear weapons, and insisting that he’s merely preaching the biblical message of peace.
In the exchange of gifts at the Vatican, Rubio presented Leo with a small crystal football paperweight. He acknowledged Leo’s known allegiance to the Chicago White Sox, saying “you’re a baseball guy, but it has the seal of the State Department,” on it. “What to get someone who has everything?” he joked as he picked the paperweight up.
Leo, for his part, gave Rubio a pen apparently made of olive wood with his coat of arms on it and a picture book of Vatican artworks. “Olive being of course the plant of peace,” Leo said.
On the eve of Rubio’s visit, the Vatican Secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had strongly defended Leo and criticized Trump’s attacks in understated diplomatic terms.
Relations between Trump and Pope Leo have deteriorated sharply, driven by a barrage of public attacks from the US leader after the Pontiff became a vocal critic of the US-Israel war on Iran, drawing backlash from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.
The most recent attack from Trump came on Monday, when he accused the Pope of “endangering a lot of Catholics” by opposing the war, and falsely suggested the pontiff believed it was acceptable for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.
Pope Leo denied that he supported nuclear weapons, which the Catholic Church teaches are immoral. “The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear arms – on that there is no doubt,” said the Pope.
“The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth.”
Pope Leo
Pope Leo has grown increasingly outspoken on the world stage in recent weeks. During a four-country trip to Africa, he declared the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” – comments he later said were not directed at Trump.
After the meetings, the US State Department said that Rubio and Parolin discussed ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East. It added, “The discussion reflected the enduring partnership between the United States and the Holy See in advancing religious freedom.”
In a separate statement about the audience with Leo, US State Department Spokesman Tommy Pigott said that the two discussed the situation in the Middle East “and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere.” “The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” he said.
Rubio Set To Meet Meloni
Rubio also has meetings on Friday with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Both Meloni and Tajani have strongly defended Leo against Trump’s attacks and have criticized the Iran war as illegal — drawing the President’s ire.
Rubio insisted this week that the visit had been in the works for a while, but that “obviously we had some stuff that happened.”
Rubio has often been called on to tone down or explain Trump’s harsh rhetoric. Trump also has criticized Meloni and other NATO allies for a lack of support for the Iran war, recently announcing plans to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany in the coming months.
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