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’.

May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Thursday with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, a moment of diplomacy in the wake of President Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the Catholic leader.

Pope Leo and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio jointly committed at a meeting on Thursday to improving relations between the Vatican and Washington, at a time when President Donald Trump has ‌repeatedly attacked the pontiff. Leo and Rubio "renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations," the Vatican…

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...

Pope Leo this week told reporters that if Trump ‘wishes to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully’.

Pope Leo XIV received American Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican on Thursday morning.

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.

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