U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, stressing the moment was used to “underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”
Posting on X, Rubio wrote, “Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.” The post was accompanied by several photos of the U.S. Secretary of State with the pontiff.
Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/BIZ9SfW5nY
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2026
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to discuss the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,” according to a press statement released by the U.S. Department of State, which added that “[t]he meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”
Due to the plentiful papal agenda this week, not all of the diplomats in Rome followed today’s audience, however important. Some of them told the Daily Caller that they were not aware of the reason for the visit and, therefore, did not comment or just took a wait-and-see approach while focusing on other issues. (RELATED: ‘We Will Listen To Him’: Marco Rubio, Pope Leo XIV Meet To Advance US–Holy See Partnership Despite Criticism By Trump)
Rubio said earlier that he wanted to talk about religious liberty, the persecution of Christian minorities, and also the challenges that are being faced by Christians in Africa. Meanwhile, various media outlets cited an alleged American source who described the meeting as “friendly and constructive.”
Leo gave Rubio a pen made of olive wood, allegedly saying that “[i]t is the plant of peace.” Rubio, on the other hand, gifted the pontiff a crystal football paperweight.
Rubio also met with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and spent around 45 minutes with Leo and two and a half hours inside the Vatican, according to the reports, which is longer than usual for official meetings. Taking this into consideration, as well as neutral-to-positive messages coming out of the meeting, the two U.S. Catholics, who represent the most powerful country on one hand, and the smallest state in the world on the other, presented a rather calm, normal state of affairs.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is welcomed by the new Prefect of the Papal Household Archbishop Petar Rajic as he arrives at San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican prior a private audience with Pope Leo XIV on May 7, 2026. (Photo by Andrew Medichini / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Notably, Rubio’s meeting with the first North American Pope happens amid rising criticism of the latter by President Donald Trump. Shortly before Rubio’s arrival, the U.S. President suggested the pontiff may want Iran to have nuclear weapons. Pope Leo said that “if someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully,” during a brief conversation with journalists on Tuesday.
Although the top U..S diplomat previously said he would not go to see the Bishop of Rome to “smooth things over,” as there is “a lot to talk about with the Vatican,” the highly-watched visit created expectations of a deepening controversy. (RELATED: Marco Rubio Denies Upcoming Visit To Vatican Is To Smooth Over Trump’s Tensions With Pope)
The Italian and European press mostly read the Rubio-Leo meeting through the Trump-Leo controversy, which was the main lens used by media during the Catholic leader’s apostolic visit to Africa in April. Now, Rubio came “to save the relation with the Pope,” and “to fix the clash” between the USA and the Vatican, as well as to “calm tensions” or “to calm down Trump,” the local dailies wrote.
Asked whether he relies more on Rubio or Trump, Secretary of State of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that he relies “only on Our Lord Jesus Christ.” In a conversation with journalists on Wednesday, the Vatican’s “prime minister” commented on Trump’s remarks regarding Pope Leo XIV, too. “To attack him in this way or to reproach what he does seems a bit strange,” he reacted.
The Catholic leader, according to Cardinal Parolin, “does what he must do: the Pope is the Pope.” He stressed that the Holy See has “always worked” on “nuclear disarmament.” (RELATED: Pope Leo Condemns Trump’s ‘Truly Unacceptable’ Threat Against Iran’s Civilization)
The Vatican’s number two mentioned it was a U.S. initiative to organize an audience, which, according to Rubio, had been planned in advance of the Trump-Leo exchange last month.
The visit of the State Secretary was squeezed into a packed papal agenda after his recent apostolic journey to Africa and before his Friday visit to the Italian city of Pompei.
On the day of the meeting with Rubio, Leo XIV met with the Polish prime minister and the Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of two African states, Burkina Faso and Niger. Furthermore, he had two bigger audiences where he delivered a speech, with the members of the editorial offices of the Vatican Publishing House and with the Swiss guards.
Yet no major daily suggested that all those numerous activities would in any way show a lack of interest or a manifestation of a lesser importance, not to mention disrespect, vis-à-vis the high-ranking politician in the Trump administration.
After the official visit to the Vatican City State, Marco Rubio is also meeting Italian authorities and will conclude his visit on 8 May. Rubio met Leo XIV for the first time in May 2025, shortly after his election as the Successor of St. Peter.
Bohumil Petrík is the only journalist from former Czechoslovakia accredited to the Holy See. He was an intern with EWTN in Rome before joining Vatican Radio, and later was a trainee in the communications department of the European Parliament in Brussels. He writes for various media outlets currently from Rome.