US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is all set to travel to the Vatican and Italy weeks after President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV heated exchange.
According to Reuters, two Italian newspapers on Sunday, May 3, reported that Rubio will visit the Vatican and Italy this week after Trump drew criticism from Christians across the political spectrum by attacking Pope Leo on social media.
Reports in national dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera did not indicate whether Rubio would meet personally with Leo, but said he was expected to meet with the Vatican's lead diplomatic official, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Rubio last met Leo, the first US pope, in May 2025, alongside Vice President JD Vance.
The two US officials attended the new pope's inaugural Mass in St. Peter's Square and had a private meeting with the pontiff the next day.
The pope, who maintained a relatively low-profile on the global stage in the first months of his papacy, emerged in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli led war on Iran and sharply criticized the Trump administration's hard-line anti-immigration policies.
Trump criticized Leo on social media several times in April, at one point calling the pontiff "terrible."
Rubio is also set to hold talks with Italy's foreign and defence ministers, the papers reported, adding that the trip aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after Trump's blunt criticism of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of his closest European allies, last month.
As per the reports Rubio’s schedule has still not been finalized.
