Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sit down with Pope Leo on Thursday in what amounts to a diplomatic rescue mission weeks after President Donald Trump launched a remarkable public assault on the pontiff.
The meeting is scheduled for 11.30am at the Vatican's apostolic palace, confirmed by the Holy See's press office on Monday. Rubio's two-day Roman visit also includes sessions with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, according to multiple sources. The tour is widely seen as an attempt to ease the chill that has settled over US relations with both the Holy See and Italy.
Rubio has also sought a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, though no formal confirmation had been granted. Meloni signaled during remarks in Yerevan that she would likely make time for the encounter.
The timing is loaded. Rubio's arrival coincides with the first anniversary of Leo's papacy and comes roughly a month after Trump denounced the pope as weak and incompetent over his criticism of American military strikes on Iran. Trump then shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Christ, later claiming it showed him as a doctor before deleting the post.
Vice President JD Vance followed suit, suggesting the Vatican should restrict its commentary to moral matters and avoid weighing in on war and theology. Trump separately attacked Meloni, once counted among his closest European allies, for defending the pope against his criticism. The president threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy in response to her government's refusal to support the Iran strikes.
The rupture is recent and jagged. Rubio and Vance attended Leo's papal inauguration in May of last year and secured a private audience the following day, during which they delivered a Trump invitation to the White House that the pope has declined. Leo responded to the April attacks by stating he harbors no fear of the Trump administration and pledged to continue speaking out against the Iran war.
Leo will mark his papal anniversary on Friday with travel to Pompeii, where he plans to celebrate mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii and visit Naples.
Author James Rodriguez: "When a secretary of state has to clean up a mess this public, it signals real trouble between Washington and Rome, and Rubio's got his work cut out for him."
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