US secretary of state Marco Rubio has met Pope Leo in a bid to repair relations with the Holy See after Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the head of the Catholic Church over his opposition to the Iran war.
Rubio’s meeting at the Vatican on Thursday “underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” said a US state department spokesperson.
They discussed “the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the western hemisphere”, he added.
The Vatican called the talks “cordial” and said the pair renewed their “shared commitment to cultivate good bilateral relations”. They focused on “countries marked by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as on the need to work tirelessly for peace”.
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Earlier this week, Trump had accused the Chicago-born pope of “endangering a lot of Catholics” saying the spiritual leader “thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.
Leo dismissed Trump’s claim, telling reporters outside Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday that “for years, the Catholic Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so let there be no doubt on that point”. He also said he would continue advocating for peaceful resolution of conflicts.
“If somebody wants to criticise me for proclaiming the gospel, let him do so truthfully,” he said.
Rubio, a Catholic and the son of Cuban immigrants, said his audience had been planned before the public dispute and subjects of discussion would include freedom of religion in Africa, where Pope Leo has just made a trip, and the crisis in Cuba.
The Vatican has deep ties with the island’s communist regime and has successfully served as a mediator between the US and Cuban authorities in the past. Trump last week joked about the US navy taking over Cuba “on the way back from Iran”.
Analysts say Rubio’s top priority was to defuse public tensions over Iran. After Trump threatened to “eradicate” Iran last month, Leo made an unusual appeal to US citizens to call their congressional representatives to demand an end to the bombing campaign.
Trump called the pope “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”, and later said he was “not a big fan” of the Catholic leader. Vice-president JD Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, also warned the pope to “be careful” when speaking about theology.
Hours before the meeting at the Vatican, Trump said Rubio would make clear to the pope that Washington would not permit Tehran to have nuclear weapons.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s chief diplomat, said the president’s “strange” reproach of the pope seriously misrepresented the Church’s long-standing commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Massimo Franco, author of the book Popes, Dollars and Wars about Washington’s relationship with the Vatican, said Rubio was “more institutional” and “more diplomatic” than other figures in the Trump administration.
“I don’t think that the relationship between the Vatican and the United States will be destroyed by this presidency,” he said. But he said Rubio might struggle to agree a common approach to the crisis in Cuba.
“The situation in Cuba is terrible – they are in a dire situation, but that doesn’t mean there will be a green light to an invasion by the Americans,” said Franco. “They want a very smooth transition – and not a new colonialisation.”
Rubio said on Tuesday the Trump administration was interested in providing aid to Cuba to be distributed “through the Church”.
The visit comes ahead of US midterm elections in which Catholic voters – who broke decisively for Trump in 2024 – are an important constituency in swing states.
“Washington has not come to Rome to convert the pope,” Fr Antonio Spadaro, under-secretary of the Vatican’s dicastery of culture and education, wrote of Rubio’s visit. “It has come to acknowledge – implicitly but legibly – that his voice carries weight in the world that cannot simply be dismissed.”
Washington and the Holy See had co-operated closely in the struggle against communism in the cold war under former Pope John Paul II, who was Polish. But the two sides have drifted apart more recently.
Trump had initially welcomed the election of Leo, expressing surprise, but calling it a “great honour” for the US. But relations have since soured.
“The Trump administration wasn’t ready for an American pope because they didn’t understand the implications,” said Francesco Sisci, founder of the Appia Institute, a think-tank with ties to the Catholic Church.
“A pope is first and foremost a pope – despite whatever upbringing they may have had.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026
