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ROME, May 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will journey to the Vatican for conferences this week, two Italian newspapers reported on Sunday, weeks after President Donald Trump drew criticism from Christians throughout the political spectrum by attacking Pope Leo on social media.
Reports in nationwide dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera didn’t point out whether or not Rubio, a Catholic, would meet personally with Leo, however stated he was anticipated to fulfill with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s lead diplomatic official.
Rubio final met Leo, the first U.S. pope, in May 2025, alongside Vice President JD Vance. The two U.S. officers attended the brand new pope’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and had a personal assembly with the pontiff the subsequent day.
The pope, who maintained a comparatively low-profile on the worldwide stage within the first months of his papacy, emerged in current weeks as an outspoken critic of the U.S.-Israeli led warfare on Iran and sharply criticized the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration insurance policies.
Trump criticized Leo on social media a number of instances in April, at one level calling the pontiff “terrible”.
The U.S. State Department, Vatican press workplace and an Italian authorities spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to questions in regards to the reviews.
Rubio can be set to carry talks with Italy’s overseas and defence ministers, the papers reported, including that the journey geared toward easing tensions between the 2 international locations after Trump’s blunt criticism of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – one in every of his closest European allies – final month.
The schedule has nonetheless not been finalised, Corriere reported, and a gathering with Meloni will not be excluded, La Repubblica added.
The journey comes days after the Pentagon introduced the drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran warfare and tariff tensions positioned additional pressure on relations between the U.S. and Europe.
Italy is among the many European international locations with the largest presence of U.S. troops, with virtually 13,000 active-duty troopers on the finish of 2025, throughout six bases.
© (Thomson Reuters 2026.
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