Marco Rubio is heading to Rome this week to meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The trip comes just weeks after a very public and bitter clash between the pontiff and President Donald Trump left US-Vatican relations badly strained.
According to The Hill, the State Department confirmed that Rubio will travel to Italy from Wednesday through Friday. The meeting with Vatican leadership is set for Thursday at 11:30 a.m. local time and will focus on the situation in the Middle East and shared interests in the Western Hemisphere. Rubio will also sit down with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.
Rubio, a practicing Catholic, is the first senior Trump administration official to meet with Pope Leo XIV since the feud erupted. Observers view the trip as an effort to repair relations with the Vatican and smooth things over with Italy after Trump’s attacks on both the pope and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni drew widespread backlash.
How the Trump-Pope Leo feud started
The dispute began in early April when Pope Leo XIV publicly responded to Trump’s threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The pope, speaking to reporters, called the threat “truly unacceptable” and framed it as both a legal and moral failure.
Trump hit back on Truth Social on April 12, calling the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” He also posted an AI-generated image widely seen as portraying him in a Christ-like pose, with his hand on the head of a man in a hospital bed. The president eventually deleted the post after it drew accusations of blasphemy from Catholics and religious leaders across the political spectrum.
Pope Leo did not back down. The pontiff said his remarks were “not meant as attacks on anyone” and pointed to the Gospel’s call for peacemaking. The Chicago-born pope also told reporters he does not fear Trump and will continue speaking out. “I don’t want to get into a debate with him,” Leo said, as reported by CBS Miami.
Meloni caught in the middle
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump’s closest European allies, found herself in an uncomfortable position when she publicly called Trump’s remarks about Leo “unacceptable.” Trump responded by saying he was “shocked” by her comments and added, “I thought she was brave, but I was wrong.”
The falling out with Meloni added another layer of tension to Rubio’s Rome visit. Rubio also requested a meeting with Meloni as part of the trip, signaling that the administration is working to repair ties with Rome on multiple fronts at once.
The State Department said the meetings with Italian counterparts will focus on “shared security interests and strategic alignment.”
Republican voices also pushed back on Trump during the feud. Illinois Congressman Darin LaHood said in a statement, “Faith teaches us to show grace and respect, even when we disagree. The President’s comments toward Pope Leo fell short of that mark.”
