US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Pope Leo XIV weeks after his feud with US President Donald Trump.
According to The Guardian, the Holy See’s press office confirmed on Monday, May 4, that Rubio will meet the first US-born pope privately in the Vatican’s apostolic palace at 11:30 am (10.30 GMT).
Italian media characterised the trip as a “relations thawing mission,” after the American leader slammed the pontiff over his criticism of the war in Iran and railed against Italian PM Giorgia Meloni over her “unacceptable” comments after she openly defended the pope.
Rubio will also meet the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, and the Italian foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Antonio Tajani, during a two-day visit reportedly intended to thaw Washington’s frosty relations with Rome and the Holy See.
The trip, which coincides with the first anniversary of Leo’s papacy, comes weeks after Trump lashed out at the pope over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Trump called him weak and said he was not doing a very good job as pontiff.
Trump then shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Christ before deleting it and saying it had actually been a portrayal of him as a doctor.
The US vice-president, JD Vance, also criticised the pope, saying the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality” and that Leo should be careful when it came to talking about theology and war.
