US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Rome and the Vatican this week, an Italian government source said, just weeks after a clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo.
Rubio is expected to meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
Italian media reported that he would also meet Defence Minister Guido Crosetto during the Thursday-Friday visit.
The meetings come several weeks after US President Trump’s extraordinary criticism of Pope Leo XIV over the Catholic leader’s anti-war rhetoric.
Trump also dismissed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of his closest European allies, as lacking courage after she defended the pontiff.
Italian media on Sunday presented Rubio’s visit as a meeting to “thaw” relations.
Since taking over as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8, 2025, following the death of Pope Francis, Leo has criticised the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
But it was his increasing anti-war rhetoric, particularly following the US-Israeli attack on Iran, that triggered Trump’s ire.
Leo, on April 7, declared Trump’s threat to destroy Iran “unacceptable” and urged Americans to demand that US lawmakers “work for peace”.
