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Pope Leon XIV will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this Thursday at the Vatican, according to Italian media cited by EFE. This meeting aims to mend the relationship between Washington and the Holy See following the sharp public confrontation between the pontiff and President Donald Trump.
The clash between the two erupted on April 7, when León XIV described Trump's threat to end "an entire civilization" as "unacceptable" in the context of the United States and Israel's war against Iran.
Trump responded in the middle of that month on his social media platform Truth Social, calling the pope "weak" and "terrible in foreign policy", and also accused him of meeting with figures from the political left and causing "great harm" to the Catholic Church.
Days later, the pontiff declared: «No, I am not afraid of the Trump administration, nor of proclaiming the message of the Gospel loudly, which is what I believe I am here for, and that is why the Church is here. We are not politicians; we do not view foreign policy from the same perspective, but as builders of peace.»
«Iran has killed 42,000 innocent protesters in the last two months», Trump responded, urging someone to explain to His Holiness the crimes committed by the ayatollahs' regime. «A few tyrants are destroying the world», said León XIV hours later during an interreligious meeting for peace held in Cameroon.
His words were interpreted as part of the exchange with Trump, but the Pope came forward to ease tensions by stating that his homily had been written weeks prior and that he had no interest in debating with the American leader.
Tensions between Trump and the Vatican were not limited to verbal exchanges: simultaneously, the Republican administration canceled a contract of over 60 years with the Catholic Church in Miami for the care of migrant children, a move that the city's archbishop, Thomas Wenski, directly linked to the frictions between Trump and the pontiff.
Rubio's visit to the Vatican will not be the first since the beginning of the pontificate: on May 19, 2025, Leon XIV received Rubio and Vice President JD Vance at the Vatican, just one day after his inaugural Mass, as a gesture of diplomatic rapprochement.
On that occasion, Rubio also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
León XIV, whose secular name is Robert Francis Prevost and who was born in Chicago in 1955, is the first American pope in history.
Since before his election, he showed a distance from Trump's agenda: he criticized Vance for prioritizing Christian love and opposed the immigration policies of the Republican administration.
Next Friday, May 8, marks the first anniversary of his election as the 267th pope, a date he will celebrate by visiting the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples.
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