US Secretary Of States Marco Rubio To Meet Pope Leo IV This Thursday.

Vatican City/Washington DC; May 2026: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Italy this week to meet with Pope Leo, a Vatican source said today (Sunday; May 03rd), as President Donald Trump’s attacks against the Catholic pontiff have drawn criticism across the political spectrum.

The meeting, the first known in-person encounter between the Holy Father and a US cabinet official in nearly a year, is expected to take place on Thursday (07th). The Pope, who has taken on a forceful new speaking style, emerged in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli led war with Iran, after previously criticising the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies.

Meanwhile, President Trump has sharply criticised Pope Leo IV on social media several times in April, at one point calling the pontiff “terrible”, in attacks that drew wide attention while Leo was on a four-nation Africa tour.

Rubio last met Pope Leo, in May 2025, alongside Vice President JD Vance. The two US officials attended the Newly appointed Pope’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and had a private meeting with him the next day.

The Holy Father is set to mark his first year as Pope this Friday (08th May)

Italian national dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera had previously reported in today’s edition that Rubio would come to Italy this week for meetings, including one with the Vatican’s lead diplomatic official, Pietro Parolin, but did not say whether he would meet with Pope Leo.

Marco Rubio is also expected to hold talks with Italy’s foreign and defence ministers, the Italian papers reported, adding that the trip is aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after Trump’s blunt criticism of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of his closest European allies, last month. It remained uncertain if Rubio will also meet Meloni.

The news of this trip comes a day after the Pentagon announced the drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions placed further strain on relations between the U.S. and Europe. Meanwhile, Italy is among the European countries with the biggest presence of U.S. troops, with almost 13,000 active-duty soldiers at the end of 2025, across 06 bases.

The pontiff said in response to Trump’s previous attacks that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would continue to speak out. In a forceful speech earlier in Algiers, he denounced “neocolonial” world powers who he said were violating international law, without singling out specific countries.

Team Maverick.