Rubio Meets Pope Leo XIV to Stabilize U.S.-Holy See Relations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on May 7, in what both governments framed as a bilateral engagement on the Middle East and Western Hemisphere affairs ^[1][2]. Rubio and the pope discussed the war in Iran, humanitarian aid, and what the Vatican described as “the need to work tirelessly to promote peace.” The State Department said separately that Rubio’s meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin covered humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East.

The visit was not routine. It took place against the backdrop of a months-long public dispute between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, over U.S. military operations in Iran. The conflict began with Operation Epic Fury, which commenced Feb. 28 with joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran; the day after, the pontiff expressed “deep concern” and urged the warring parties to stop the escalation. Trump subsequently attacked the pope on Truth Social, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” and writing, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Pope Leo responded that he had “no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel,” and added, “We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it.” Rubio’s visit came days after Trump reignited the dispute in a May 5 interview in which he again claimed the pope endorsed Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, an assertion Pope Leo immediately rejected.

The State Department publicly characterized the trip as substantive rather than remedial. State Department spokesman Thomas “Tommy” Pigott stated on May 4 that Rubio would meet with Holy See leadership “to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere.” At a White House briefing the same day, Rubio disputed suggestions that his Vatican visit was an attempt to “smooth things over with the pope,” arguing that the two sides have shared concerns including religious freedom in Africa. The Holy See’s post-meeting statement, however, signaled warmth: it noted “an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations.” Rubio wrote on social media that he met the pope “to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”

The two governments also exchanged gifts. Pope Leo XIV and Rubio exchanged gifts during the private audience at the Vatican. According to POLITICO, Rubio presented the pope with a crystal tennis ball paperweight, a reference to Leo’s known interest in the sport, and the pope in turn gave Rubio a pen made from olive wood [POLITICO]. The gift exchange carried symbolic weight given the tenor of U.S.-Holy See relations in the preceding weeks.

This was Rubio’s second substantive engagement with Pope Leo. Their first bilateral meeting took place May 19, 2025, the day after the pope’s inauguration Mass, when Rubio and Vice President JD Vance met jointly with the pope. Rubio, a Catholic who with this trip has visited Italy or the Vatican at least three times as the administration’s top diplomat, was in Italy on Thursday and Friday. Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly, who served under President Joe Biden, told POLITICO that Rubio had been “given the assignment to go to the Vatican and try to clean up relations” [POLITICO].

The bilateral relationship between the United States and the Holy See has no treaty framework governing dispute resolution; it operates through the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, under which the U.S. has maintained a Senate-confirmed ambassador to the Holy See since 1984. The current rupture is diplomatic rather than legal in character, but its policy consequences are material: the Holy See operates formal diplomatic relations with more than 180 states and functions as a significant multilateral actor on humanitarian corridors, prisoner exchanges, and ceasefire mediation. The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7, but Trump and Pope Leo have continued to exchange public statements. Rubio’s engagement with the pope, and his parallel meetings with Italian counterparts, positions the State Department as the administration’s primary diplomatic channel to manage the fallout. Rubio is scheduled to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on May 8.

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