Pope Leo drew President Donald Trump's ire after becoming a firm critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran and his administration's hardline anti-immigration policies.

VATICAN CITY, May 7 - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday, in a potentially fraught encounter as President Donald Trump has continued a series of disparaging attacks on the Catholic leader over the Iran war. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday amid strain between Washington and the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV and Secretary of State Marco Rubio jointly committed at a meeting on Thursday to improving relations between the Vatican and Washington.

Rubio's visit comes after Trump accused Pope Leo of being "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy".

Before his departure for Rome, Rubio remarked that ‘there’s a lot to talk about with the Vatican’.

Rubio led a White House briefing with pointed remarks on Iran before traveling to Italy for meetings with Pope Leo and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Rubio led a White House briefing with pointed remarks on Iran before traveling to Italy for meetings with Pope Leo and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

State Department says two discussed situation in Mideast, 'underscored the strong relationship' between US and Vatican, 'shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity'

America's top diplomat, Marco Rubio, will meet the first US pope, Leo XIV, on Thursday, seeking to ease Washington-Vatican tensions while also promoting President Donald Trump's agenda. The US secretary of state arrived in Rome after Trump's extraordinary criticism of Leo, the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, over his anti-war stance. FRANCE 24's Hannah Roberts reports from Rome, Italy.

The relations have been strained over the president’s repeated broadsides about Pope Leo’s calls for peace and dialogue to end the U.S.-Israeli war.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a fence-mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday to underscore strong bilateral ties, after U.S. President Trump's broadsides against Pope Leo XIV for his

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened a fence-mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday after President Trump's broadsides against Pope Leo XIV and the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran angered the Ho

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened a fence-mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday after President Donald Trump’s broadsides against Pope Leo XIV

During a time of considerable tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Leo the 14th, Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Vatican on Thursday morning, May 7 and met with the Pope — who has been an outspoken critic of Trump's war against Iran. State Department spokesman Tommy Piggo...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to the Vatican and Italy on a fence-mending visit after President Donald Trump’s broadsides against Pope Leo XIV and the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran have alienated those allies. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Rochelle Ferguson-Bouyahi tells us more.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio paid a fence‑mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday, highlighting close ties between the two sides after President Donald Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV over his…

With Giorgia Meloni, Washington has leverage. With the Vatican, it has little more than diplomacy.