Ahmad Austin Jr.May 8th, 2026, 11:51 am

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday briefly detailed what he spoked to Pope Leo XIV about during their recent meeting in the Vatican.

The day before, Rubio met with the Pope and several Catholic leaders to discuss a wide variety of matters. Notably, it was the Trump administration’s first meeting with the pontiff since President Donald Trump launched a barrage of verbal attacks over Pope Leo’s calls for peace. Those calls also included veiled criticisms of the administration.

Speaking to the press on Friday, Rubio revealed that he and the Pope spoke about the ongoing war and that the conversation remained “cordial,” saying:

We had a very good meeting. I mean, ultimately, it’s important– first of all, we work together with the church, and we talked about those areas that we’re working together on, different parts of the world. I know everyone’s interested in the other aspects of it, but I expressed, updated them on the situation with Iran, expressed our point of view about why this is important, and the danger that Iran poses to the world, which is largely recognized.

So, obviously, you know, the Holy Father is a spiritual leader first and foremost. I mean, that’s his role to play. And obviously, the church has always interacted on behalf of a mission for peace and a respect for all of humanity, but at the end it was a very cordial and important meeting.

Weeks earlier, it was reported that the Catholic Church had a meeting at the Pentagon that was anything but cordial. According to the report, Pentagon officials threatened Vatican officials and even referenced an era of the papacy that was influenced by the military. The characterization of that meeting has since been disputed.

Watch above via Fox News

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