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Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States, arrived this Wednesday at the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV in the private library of the Apostolic Palace, in a visit aimed at repairing the diplomatic ties between Washington and the Holy See after weeks of open tension between the pontiff and President Donald Trump.
The audience, confirmed by the Vatican Press Office, will take place this Thursday.
This is the second meeting between them. The first took place on May 19, 2025, one day after the inaugural Mass of the pontificate, when Rubio attended with Vice President JD Vance.
The State Department spokesperson, Thomas Pigott, indicated that Rubio would meet with the leadership of the Holy See to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the western hemisphere, with particular attention to Cuba.
In a press conference at the White House last Tuesday, Rubio revealed that he wants to discuss with the Pope the distribution of humanitarian aid in Cuba through the Catholic Church, noting that the Díaz-Canel regime obstructs that distribution.
"We are willing to provide more humanitarian aid to Cuba, but the Cuban regime must allow us to do so," said the Secretary of State.
The United States has already sent 6 million dollars in February 2026 through Cáritas Cuba, and there are 9 million additional dollars intended for hurricane Melissa victims in the eastern part of the island, funds that Washington also wants to channel through church organizations.
The Vatican has a history of acting as a mediator between Washington and Havana: it facilitated the rapprochement between Obama and Raúl Castro from 2014 to 2016, and under Biden, it contributed to the release of 553 Cuban prisoners.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, stated in March that the Holy See has taken "the necessary steps to promote a negotiated solution in Cuba."
The visit occurs in a context of unprecedented tension between Trump and Pope Leo XIV.
The conflict erupted on April 7, when the pontiff described the president's threat to destroy "an entire Iranian civilization" as "truly unacceptable." Trump responded on social media, calling the Pope "weak on crime" and "terrible at foreign policy," even writing: "If I were not in the White House, León would not be in the Vatican."
The Pope responded from the papal plane: "I am not afraid of the Trump administration," and days later stated that he was not interested in debating the president. However, Trump lashed out at the pontiff again this week, accusing him of "endangering many Catholics" due to his stance on Iran.
Tensions spread to Italy when Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended the Pope, and Trump called her stance "unacceptable," threatening to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy, Spain, and Germany. Rubio will meet with Meloni on Friday before returning to Washington.
The person responsible for recalibrating the relationship with the Holy See is Rubio, not Vance—the highest-ranking Catholic figure in the administration—who also criticized the Pope by saying he should focus on theology rather than politics.
León XIV also has personal ties to Cuba: his maternal lineage dates back to 18th century Havana, and he visited the island in 2008, 2011, and 2019 as the superior general of the Augustinians.
The Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni summed up the spirit of the meeting: "His Holiness hopes for frank exchanges on the promotion of peace and human rights."
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