Marco Rubio, Pope Leo XIV Meet To Advance US—Holy See Partnership Despite Criticism By Trump

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Thursday with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican to advance U.S. partnerships with the Catholic Church despite President Donald Trump’s recent criticisms of the supreme pontiff.

The closed-door meeting between the two Catholic Americans — the second since the papal inauguration — is part of a larger itinerary involving engagements with top officials of the Holy See and the Republic of Italy “to advance bilateral relations” between the United States and those powers. The State Department’s Monday preview of the secretary’s travels further noted he would “meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere,” while the meeting with Italian counterparts would “be focused on shared security interests and strategic alignment.” Likewise, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch stated Tuesday the visit would center around “deep cooperation, shared interests, and — in many ways, I think — shared goals.”

“His visit, I think, speaks to our deep desire to engage in exactly what the Holy See has called for: fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch told reporters.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

Scheduled for the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Vicar of Christ’s election, the meeting took place following a bevy of criticisms launched by Trump at the pope over perceived slights relating to the U.S.’s armed conflict with Iran. Trump lambasted Pope Leo as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in an April 12 post to Truth Social, seemingly after the Holy Father took issue with suggestions God takes sides in armed conflicts.

“I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do,” he added.

Trump continued to express his disappointment with Leo while maintaining a conditional ceasefire with Iran. The president’s latest criticism was launched during a Monday interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” after the namesake host expressed a hope Trump could free imprisoned Catholic Hong Kong businessman and democracy activist Jimmy Lai during a planned May 14-15 visit to China. Trump, connecting to a point Hewitt made about wanting the pope to call attention to the situation the ailing 78-year-old Lai was in, responded, “The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people, but I guess, if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

“He’s from Chicago,” Hewitt concluded, “he’s got to learn a few things.”

“Well, I can tell you this, that as far as the pope is concerned, it’s very simple: whether I make him happy or I don’t make him happy, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump echoed to reporters Wednesday before erroneously claiming Leo was permissive of the Islamic regime possessing such devastating weapons. “And he seemed to be saying that they can. And I say they cannot. Because if that happened, the entire world would be hostage and we’re not going to let that happen. That’s my only message, OK?”

For his part, the pope was unmoved from the Church’s longstanding position, advocating for peace through diplomacy. He admitted April 13 that he was “sorry to hear” the president’s personal attacks but that he had “no fear of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”

Whereas Trump had hitherto been enthusiastic about the “great honor” of having an American pope shepherd the Catholic Church, his esteem evidently soured over perceived political criticism and the Holy Father’s seeming departure from strictly spiritual guidance.

“To talk about just war today, it’s a very complex problem,” Leo told reporters Tuesday. “You have to analyze it on many levels, but ever since the entrance into the nuclear age, the whole concept of war has to be reevaluated with terms today. The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully.”

“For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point,” the pope continued. “I have spoken about this from the very moment I was elected, and now we are nearing the anniversary. I said [then], ‘Peace be with you.’ I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of the word of God.”

Leo also expressed hope his upcoming meeting with Rubio would be “a good dialogue,” approached “with trust and openness” in order “to understand one another well.”

“The pope has already responded; I wouldn’t add anything,” Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin separately told reporters Tuesday. “He gave a very, very Christian response, saying that he is doing what his role requires, which is to preach peace. Whether this is liked or not is another matter. We understand that not everyone is on the same page; but let’s say that this is the pope’s response.”

The exchanges by the two heads of state were considered by some to be a motivating factor behind Rubio’s visit to the Vatican, a speculation he denied during a Tuesday press briefing.

“No, I mean, it’s a trip we had planned from before, and obviously we had some stuff that happened,” Rubio said. “And, no, look, there’s a lot to talk about with the Vatican.” He went on to identify as examples the U.S. partnering with the Church to facilitate millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, as well as promoting religious freedom around the world.

“Look, I mean, the pope is obviously the vicar of Christ, is a Roman Catholic,” he continued. “You know, but he’s also the head of a nation state, you know, and it’s an organization that has a presence in over 100-something countries around the world. And we engage with the Vatican quite a bit because they’re present in many different places.”

“I don’t accept the idea that somehow there’s some deep rift,” Ambassador Burch likewise said. “I think nations have disagreements and I think one of the ways that you work through those is, as the Holy See says, is through fraternity and authentic dialogue. I think the secretary is coming here in that spirit, to have a frank conversation about U.S. policy, to engage in dialogue, to better understand each other and to work through — if there are differences — certainly to talk through that.”

Asked if he agreed with the sentiment Trump expressed that the pope, through his rhetoric opposing the Iran war, is “endangering a lot of Catholics,” Rubio demurred.

“Well, I don’t think that’s an accurate description of what he said,” continued the secretary. “I think what the president basically said is that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics and Christians and others for that matter.” He went on to say Iran is “holding the whole world hostage” through their aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the regime’s possession of nuclear weapons would even more so threaten global stability.

“And I think the president’s point is how anyone cannot see that as an unacceptable outcome and an unacceptable risk is beyond him. It’s puzzling and someone has to do something about it,” Rubio added. “And that’s what he promised he would do when he got elected, by the way, is address threats like this.”

The White House referred the DCNF to the secretary’s comments when reached for comment.