VATICAN CITY: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expects a “frank” meeting with Pope Leo during a visit to the Vatican on Thursday, the US ambassador said, after President Donald Trump took a fresh pot-shot at the pope for criticizing the US-Israeli war in Iran.
“Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is ... through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Brian Burch, the US ambassador to the Holy See, said on Tuesday.
“I think the secretary is coming here in that spirit,” Burch told journalists. “To have a frank conversation about US policy, to engage in dialogue.”
Trump has repeatedly disparaged the first US-born pope in recent weeks, drawing a backlash from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Rubio to have ‘frank’ dialogue with Pope Leo, ambassador says
• Trump has repeatedly attacked Leo, first US pope
• President took fresh pot-shot at pope on radio talk show
• Top Vatican cardinal says pope will continue to push for peace
In his latest comments, Trump told right-wing radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt that “the Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good.
“I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Leo has never said Iran should have nuclear weapons, but has opposed the war which Trump says is aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear program.
Responding to Trump’s latest attack later on Tuesday, Leo said he wanted to spread the Christian message by speaking about peace but that people were free to criticize him.
“The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace,” said the pope. “If someone wants to criticize me for preaching the Gospel ... I hope simply to be listened to because of the value of God’s words.”
Leo also firmly rejected the idea that he supported nuclear weapons, which the Catholic Church teaches are immoral. “The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear arms, on that there is no doubt,” he said.
RUBIO WILL ‘TALK THROUGH’ DIFFERENCES WITH POPE
Rubio is Catholic, as is Vice President JD Vance. The two met Leo a year ago after attending his inaugural mass — the Trump administration’s only previous known cabinet-level meetings with the pope.
Burch was asked after an event hosted by his embassy at Rome’s Gregorian University on Tuesday if Rubio was hoping to repair Trump’s relationship with Leo.
“I don’t accept the idea that somehow there’s some deep rift,” the ambassador responded. Rubio is coming, Burch said, so that the US and the Vatican can “better understand each other, and to work through, if there are differences, certainly to talk through that.”
Rubio is also set to meet on Friday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has defended the Pope. Her defense minister has said the war in Iran puts US leadership at risk.
Leo, who marks his first year as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church on Friday, maintained a relatively low profile on the global stage in the first months of his papacy but has emerged in recent weeks as a firm critic of the war on Iran.
The pope has also sharply criticized the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies. And he has called for dialogue between the US and Catholic-majority Cuba, which has suffered frequent blackouts owing to US sanctions intended to put pressure on its one-party Communist government.
