{"id":60917,"date":"2026-05-07T12:21:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/60917\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:21:23","slug":"rubio-meets-with-pope-leo-xiv-days-after-latest-trump-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/60917\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio meets with Pope Leo XIV days after latest Trump attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> kicked off a two-day visit to Vatican City and Italy Thursday by meeting Pope Leo XIV<\/a>, days after President Trump claimed the first American-born pontiff was \u201cendangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration<\/a> over its hardline immigration policies and, more recently, over the war in Iran. The president has responded aggressively, attacking the Bishop of Rome last month as \u201cWEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pope would rather talk about the fact that it\u2019s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview broadcast Monday<\/a>. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that\u2019s very good. I think he\u2019s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off a two-day visit to Vatican City and Italy on Thursday by meeting Pope Leo XIV. VATICAN MEDIA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a private audience. VATICAN MEDIA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The pope and his allies have insisted he is merely conveying Biblical teachings with no ulterior political motive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Leo told reporters Tuesday, adding that the Catholic Church \u201cfor years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pope noted that the Catholic Church has always permitted countries to act in self-defense and acknowledged the church\u2019s \u201cjust war\u201d tradition.<\/p>\n

However, due to the advent of more powerful and destructive weapons, \u201cthe whole concept of war has to be reevaluated in terms today,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I always believe that it\u2019s much better to enter into dialogue than to look for arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio himself told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that the Vatican stop had been planned for a while. VATICAN MEDIA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and delegates. VATICAN MEDIA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rubio also met with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who said Wednesday that Washington had requested Rubio\u2019s audience with Leo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot ignore the United States,\u201d Parolin said. \u201cDespite some difficulties, they certainly remain a key partner for the Holy See, not least because they play a role in almost every situation we face today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Rubio himself told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that the Vatican stop had been planned for a while before \u201cwe had some stuff that happened,\u201d an apparent reference to the jabs by Trump.<\/p>\n

The secretary specifically cited religious freedom across the world and the role of the church in distributing humanitarian aid in Cuba as issues he wanted to discuss with Leo.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is greeted by a Vatican official upon arrival at the St. Damasus courtyard to meet with Pope Leo XIV and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, on May 7, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Rubio, arrive for a two-day visit to Italy and the Vatican at Ciampino Airport in Ciampino, near Rome, Italy, on May 7, 2026. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

The dispute between Trump and the pope has also driven a wedge between the American president and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who called Trump\u2019s \u201cweak\u201d criticism of the religious leader \u201cunacceptable\u201d and argued it is \u201cright and normal for \u200b[the pope] to \u200ccall for peace and \u200bto \u2060condemn every form of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump fired back at Meloni, telling an Italian newspaper of the conservative PM: \u201cShe\u2019s the one who\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio, himself a practicing Catholic, is due to meet with Meloni and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajanion Friday.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off a two-day visit to Vatican City and Italy Thursday by meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[2907,12,36251,186,51,1124,2515,48,1252,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-60917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marco-rubio","8":"tag-catholic-church","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-feuds","11":"tag-marco-rubio","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","14":"tag-rome","15":"tag-us-news","16":"tag-vatican","17":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116533270059755531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}