VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Italy this week to meet with Pope âLeo, a Vatican source said on Sunday, as President Donald Trump’s attacks against the Catholic âpontiff have drawn criticism across the political spectrum.
The meeting, the first known in-person encounter between Leo and a U.S. cabinet official in nearly a year, is expected to take place on Thursday, said a senior source familiar with âthe pope’s plans, who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to âspeak on the matter.
The pope, who has taken on a forceful new speaking style, â emerged in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the U.S.-Israeli led war with Iran, after previously criticising the âTrump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies.
Trump sharply criticised Leo on social media several times in April, at one âpoint calling the pontiff “terrible”, in attacks that drew wide attention while Leo was on a four-nation Africa tour.
Rubio last met Leo, the first U.S. pope, in May 2025, alongside Vice President JD Vance. The two U.S. officials attended the new âpope’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and had a private meeting with him the next âday.
Leo marks his first year as pope on Friday.
Italian national dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera had previously âreported â on Sunday that Rubio would come to Italy this week for meetings, including one with the Vatican’s lead diplomatic official, Pietro Parolin, but did not say whether he would meet with Leo.
The U.S. State Department, Vatican press office and an Italian government spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the âreports.
Rubio is also expected âto hold talks with â Italy’s foreign and defence ministers, the Italian papers reported, adding that the trip is aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after Trump’s blunt criticism âof Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – one of his closest European allies – âlast month.
It â remained uncertain if Rubio will also meet Meloni.
The trip comes days after the Pentagon announced the drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war â and tariff âtensions placed further strain on relations between the U.S. and âEurope.
Italy is among the European countries with the biggest presence of U.S. troops, with almost 13,000 active-duty soldiers at the end of â2025, across six bases.
