Pope Leo XIV will receive the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, at the Vatican, a meeting that occurs a month after the disagreement between the pontiff and the president of the United States, donald trump. The meeting in the Vatican is scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 2026, according to Italian media this Sunday (05/03/2026), citing sources from the Holy See. These media present Rubio’s visit as an attempt to “thaw” relations.
It will not be the first time they see each other, since on May 19, 2025 Leo XIV met with Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance, both Catholics, a day after the start of his papacy, which marks one year next Friday. The head of American diplomacy will meet with his counterparts from the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and from Italy, Antonio Tajani, an Italian government source confirmed to AFP. Italian media also report a meeting with Defense Minister Guido Crosetto during his visit on Thursday and Friday.
A diplomatic friction that reached the Italian government
Leo The Pope called the American president’s threat to wipe out “an entire civilization” in his war against Tehran “unacceptable,” to which Trump responded, among other things, by calling him “weak” and describing him as “terrible at foreign policy.”
A week later, Leo XIV He settled the disagreement by ensuring that he did not fear the Trump Administration or have any interest in debating with the president, advancing his intention to continue preaching peace. “No, I am not afraid of the Trump administration, nor of proclaiming the message of the Gospel out loud, which is what I believe I should be here for, and that is why the Church is here. We are not politicians, we do not see foreign policy from the same perspective, but as builders of peace,” he said on the first day of his trip to Africa.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, considered Trump’s attacks on the pontiff “unacceptable”, who then also attacked her, marking a rift between Washington and Italy, one of the European governments closest to the American president until then.
