WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the idea that his upcoming trip to Italy this week is an effort to smooth recently inflamed tensions between the U.S. and the Vatican amid the war in Iran, even as President Donald Trump offered a fresh round of criticism of Pope Leo XIV.
What You Need To Know
Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the idea that his upcoming trip to Italy this week is an effort to smooth recently inflamed tensions between the U.S. and the Vatican amid the war in Iran
Rubio’s portrayal of the trip came not long after President Donald Trump offered a fresh round of criticism of Pope Leo XIV
The U.S. State Department Monday announced the plans to send Rubio to Rome from Wednesday to Friday as part of an effort to “advance bilateral relations with Italy and the Vatican”
The Vatican announced the pope would meet with Rubio Thursday
The announcement came after tensions flared last month when Trump took to Truth Social to issue a fierce rebuke of Leo, who has been critical of the conflict in Iran and called for peace
Rubio made the comments Tuesday in the White House briefing room, where he took the place of press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave. The secretary of state told reporters his travels to Rome and Vatican City was a trip “we had planned from before,” presumably in a reference to Trump and the pope’s public back-and-forth last month, and painted his visit as part of “normal” engagements with the church.
“So the trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us to engage with them,” Rubio said. “And other secretary states have done that in the past.”
He acknowledged that the pope is not just a religious figure but also the “head of a nation state,” and said he has “a lot” to talk to Leo about, specifically mentioning the pope’s recent trip to Africa and joint efforts to deliver aid to people in Cuba.
“We worked with the Catholic Church on the distribution of humanitarian aid in Cuba,” Rubio noted. “We share with the Catholic Church a concern about the destruction of religious liberty, the persecution of Christian minorities, and also the challenges that are being faced by Christians in Africa, where the pope just recently visited.”
Rubio’s portrayal of the trip came not long after Trump reignited his criticism of the first U.S.-born pope when he told conservative political commentator Hugh Hewitt in an interview that Leo was making people less safe with his comments on the situation in Iran.
“I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview. “But I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
The pope responded to the latest spate of criticism from Trump Tuesday by telling reporters in Italy that the “mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace.”
“If someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully,” he said.
Leo also directly addressed Trump’s claim about Iran and nuclear weapons, saying: “For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.”
Nonetheless, he expressed optimism that there would be “good dialogue” during the secretary of state’s visit and echoed Rubio somewhat in saying he didn’t believe the current issues were what he was coming for.
“I think the issues he is coming for are not today’s issues. We shall see,” Leo said.
Asked about the president’s comments on Leo endangering Catholics, Rubio, who is Catholic himself, appeared to dismiss the question as not an “accurate description of what he said.”
The U.S. State Department Monday announced the plans to send Rubio to Rome from Wednesday to Friday as part of an effort to “advance bilateral relations with Italy and the Vatican.” The Vatican announced the pope would meet with Rubio in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace at 11:30 a.m. local time on Thursday.
Among the topics the State Department said would be discussed with Holy See leadership were “the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere” while it said meetings with Italian counterparts would focus on “shared security interests and strategic alignment.”
The announcement came after tensions flared last month when Trump took to Truth Social to issue a fierce rebuke of Leo, who has been critical of the conflict in Iran and called for peace.
In an initial post, Trump referred to the head of the Catholic church — who is the first person born in the U.S. to hold the position — as weak and terrible for foreign policy, later telling reporters that he would not apologize for his comments.
The pope in response declared that he is not afraid of “the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”
The strain also bled into Trump’s relations with Italy and its prime minister Giorgia Meloni – who has previously had a friendly relationship with the U.S. president. Trump told an Italian news outlet, Corriere della Sera, that Meloni was unacceptable after she expressed criticism over his rebukes of the pope.
The Trump administration and the Vatican have seen disputes over policy in the past. Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism and is set to release a book on his faith journey in June, met with the previous pontiff, Pope Francis, a year ago in Vatican City at a time in which tensions were particularly charged over the administration’s immigration policy.