The U.S. Secretary of State is expected to visit Rome and the Vatican later this week, Italian officials said, in a trip that comes weeks after a diplomatic row involving President Donald Trump, Pope Leo XIV, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Rubio, a practising Catholic, is scheduled to meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin as well as Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Local media also reported that he may hold talks with Defence Minister Guido Crosetto during the two-day visit.
The meetings follow a series of unusually sharp exchanges between Trump and Pope Leo, who has repeatedly criticised U.S. policies on immigration and, more recently, the administration’s stance on conflicts abroad. The pontiff’s increasingly vocal anti-war rhetoric, particularly after the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, drew a strong reaction from Washington.
On April 7, Leo described Trump’s threat to destroy Iran as “unacceptable” and urged Americans to push lawmakers to prioritise peace. Trump responded in a social media post, calling the pope “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”, adding that he was “not a big fan” of the Catholic leader.
The dispute also spilled over into U.S.-Italian relations after Giorgia Meloni publicly defended the pontiff, prompting Trump to criticise the Italian prime minister and question her leadership. He further accused Rome of failing to support the United States in NATO-related matters and threatened to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy.
Italian media have framed Rubio’s visit as an attempt to “thaw” relations between Washington, Rome and the Vatican, as tensions remain elevated following the exchange of remarks.
