Rubio’s meetings with Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican’s top diplomat in Rome sought to cool a relationship that has been strained by President Donald Trump’s public criticisms of the pope’s comments on war and peace. The Vatican said during the talks that the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States was reaffirmed, even as questions around the Iran war have pulled the two sides into open dispute.
The Vatican’s message of engagement with peace formed the core of the encounter, with the Vatican raising the “need to work tirelessly in favor of peace” in Thursday’s talks with Rubio. The U.S. State Department and the Vatican both characterized the meetings as underscoring strong ties, framing the diplomatic contact as evidence of continued partnership rather than a break.
According to the U.S. State Department, Rubio’s meetings with Parolin centered on “ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere” and efforts to achieve “a durable peace in the Middle East.” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a separate statement about Rubio’s audience with Leo that the two discussed the situation in the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere, and that the meeting highlighted the “strong relationship” between the United States and the Holy See alongside their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.
The audience with Pope Leo was complicated at the last minute by Trump’s latest criticism of the pope, the Associated Press reported. Rubio, described as a practicing Catholic, then spent about 2½ hours in Vatican meetings before leaving for additional diplomacy, after first meeting with Leo and later meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin. In the days leading up to Parolin’s visit and talks, Parolin had defended Leo and criticized Trump’s attacks, saying Wednesday: “Attacking him like that or criticizing what he does seems a bit strange to me, to say the least.”
Rubio also met Pope Leo amid the backdrop of earlier public clashes that began after Trump lashed out at Leo on social media last month. Trump said the pope was soft on crime and terrorism when discussing U.S. immigration policies and deportations and also criticized the pope’s calls for peace and dialogue related to ending the U.S.-Israeli war. After Leo said, in comments reported in the lead-up, that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, Trump continued to criticize him, including through social media posts that were later deleted after backlash.
During their meeting Thursday, Rubio and Leo exchanged small gifts, which diplomats and officials presented as part of an effort to restore normalcy in the relationship. Rubio gave Leo a small crystal football paperweight marked with the seal of the State Department, and Rubio joked about the pope’s known allegiance to the Chicago White Sox, saying, “you’re a baseball guy,” before acknowledging the paperweight’s official seal. Leo, for his part, gave Rubio a pen apparently made of olive wood, which Leo said the olive tree represents as “the plant of peace,” alongside a presentation of Vatican art.
The tensions have also fed into Rubio’s broader European itinerary, with additional meetings scheduled Friday with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. The Associated Press reported that both have defended Leo against Trump’s attacks and have criticized the Iran war as illegal, drawing additional ire from Trump. Even before Rubio’s Vatican stop, observers in Italy were skeptical about whether the visit would produce quick breakthroughs; Giampiero Gramaglia, a former head of the ANSA news agency, said he did not expect much for Vatican or Italian relations and suggested Rubio may have been seeking to smooth ties partly for political ambitions.
The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, described as an undersecretary in the Vatican’s culture office, said in comments cited by the Associated Press that Rubio’s mission was not about converting the pope to Trump’s side. Spadaro said Washington had come to acknowledge “implicitly but legibly” that Leo’s voice carries weight in the world that cannot simply be dismissed, writing in an essay earlier this week that the situation created by Trump’s remarks required a “high-level, direct intervention” in “the proper language of diplomacy.”
Beyond the Iran war, Rubio said topics other than that conflict were on the agenda for the Vatican visit, including Cuba. He said the Holy See’s concerns focused in part on Trump administration threats of potential military action there after the January ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and he referenced U.S. interest in humanitarian assistance as part of the effort. Rubio said, “We gave Cuba $6 million of humanitarian aid, but obviously they won’t let us distribute it,” adding, “We distributed it through the church. We’d like to do more.”