Rubio meets Pope Leo as US stresses strong Vatican ties
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, with Washington describing the talks as friendly and constructive. The State Department said the meeting underscored strong US-Holy See ties and a shared commitment to peace and human dignity.
VATICAN CITY: The US State Department underlined its "strong relationship" with the Vatican on Thursday after talks between top diplomat Marco Rubio and Pope Leo XIV, following Donald Trump's astonishing attack on the first US pontiff.
"The conversations today were friendly and constructive," a State Department official told AFP following the US secretary of state's private audience at the Vatican.
Rubio's visit came after US President Trump accused Leo, the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, of being "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy" after he made critical comments about the Middle East war.
After the talks, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Leo and Rubio discussed the Middle East as well as their mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere -- a phrase used by the US to refer to Latin America.
"The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity," he said.
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