Rubio Heads to Vatican to Mend Ties After Trump's Attacks on Pope Leo XIV Over Iran

Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened a visit to the Vatican on Thursday with a specific job: repair relations with the Holy See after President Donald Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV and on the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. The trip came at a delicate moment, and the audience Rubio had scheduled with the Chicago-born pope was complicated at the last minute by Trump's latest round of criticism.

Rubio is a practicing Catholic, which gives the meeting a personal edge alongside its diplomatic one. The attacks angered the Holy See and set off ongoing sparring between the two American leaders. Leo has pushed back, calling out what he described as Trump's misrepresentations of his views on Iran and nuclear weapons. The pope has insisted he is simply preaching the biblical message of peace.

Rubio was also due to meet Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state. On the eve of the visit, Parolin defended Leo strongly and criticized Trump's attacks in the understated language of diplomacy. "Attacking him like that or criticizing what he does seems a bit strange to me, to say the least," he said Wednesday. Parolin also said Washington had requested Rubio's audience, and that the pope was open to continued dialogue.

The visit unfolded against a war that is two months old and still unsettled. Iran said it was reviewing the latest American proposals for ending the conflict, while Trump threatened a new wave of bombing unless a deal is reached that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. On social media, Trump wrote that the war could soon end and that disrupted oil and natural gas shipments could restart, but only if Iran accepts a reported agreement he did not detail. "If they don't agree, the bombing starts," he wrote.

The administration's messaging over the past several days has been uneven. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained how the U.S. military was protecting stranded ships so they could pass through the strait. That afternoon, Rubio told reporters at the White House that the military operation was "concluded" and that the United States had achieved its objectives. Almost in the same breath, he said Trump was still seeking a "path of peace" that required Iran to agree to reopen the oil corridor. By Tuesday evening, Trump announced the effort to protect ships was paused to see whether an agreement could be reached. On Wednesday morning he warned again that bombing would resume if Tehran did not accept U.S. terms.

Hope that the conflict might end lifted international markets on Thursday, even though the U.S. military had fired on an Iranian oil tanker hours earlier as it tried to breach an American blockade of Iran's ports.

Other matters also pressed on the president's agenda. His lawyer asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to temporarily block columnist E. Jean Carroll from collecting an $83 million defamation award while he appeals to the Supreme Court. A Manhattan jury awarded that sum in January 2024, after another jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million, finding Trump sexually abused and then defamed her. Trump denies the allegations. Separately, the National Capital Planning Commission was set to begin considering Trump's proposal to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, a plan preservationists say would trap moisture and damage the granite.

Whether Rubio's audience eases the dispute, and whether Trump tempers his comments about the pope, will show how the administration intends to handle its relationship with the Holy See.