Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this Thursday and Friday in an effort to ease rising tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. According to the State Department, the Catholic Secretary of State will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere, while meetings with Italian counterparts will focus on shared security interests and strategic alignment. This trip marks the third time Rubio has visited Italy or the Vatican since becoming the president's top diplomat.
The visit follows a period of frosty relations after President Trump repeatedly disparaged the first U.S.-born pope, specifically criticizing his stances on the Middle East and the Iran war. Tensions further escalated when Trump posted a social media image likening himself to Jesus Christ. Trump has since deleted the post and refused to apologize, claiming he believed the image depicted him as a doctor.
Rubio is frequently called upon to tone down or explain the president's harsh rhetoric concerning the Middle East, Europe, and NATO, a task complicated by the domestic political implications of the papal dispute ahead of midterm congressional elections. Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV has maintained that his general appeals for peace and criticisms of the Iran war and other global conflicts are not direct attacks against Trump or any other individual.