Topline

The U.S. State Department touted what it described as an “enduring partnership” between the U.S. and Pope Leo XIV after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the pope for more than two hours Thursday, amid President Donald Trump’s feud with the Vatican.

Rubio, who is Catholic, posted photos of his meeting with the pope to X, writing “met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement to multiple outlets that the meeting “underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See” and that the two discussed the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East and “topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere.”

Rubio also met with Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and discussed “ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East,” the State Department said, adding, “the discussion reflected the enduring partnership between the United States and the Holy See in advancing religious freedom.”

The meetings come as Trump has repeatedly attacked Leo over the pope’s criticism of the U.S. military actions against Iran, most recently on Tuesday, when Trump told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people,” accusing the pope of promoting the belief “that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” (the pope said in response that the Catholic Church “for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons).

Rubio, addressing Trump’s comments about the pope in a press conference Tuesday, said, Trump “doesn’t understand why anybody, leave aside the Pope” would “think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon.”