The Vatican on Monday said Pope Leo XIV will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.
This is just a few weeks after the pontiff seriously criticised United States President Donald Trump.
According to a calendar published on the Vatican’s media site, the private visit with the top US diplomat, who is a Catholic, will take place at 11:30 am (0930 GMT).
The meeting is said to be an attempt to soften relations between the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics and the US government.
Rubio will also meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani while in Rome.
Rubio had also asked for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump’s closest European allies, against whom he turned after she defended the pope, the source added.
Leo has increasingly spoken out against international conflicts and the politicians waging them, and last month issued his most forthright critique yet of the Trump administration’s actions.
The visit will be the second time that the pope and Rubio have met as he was received at the Vatican with US Vice President JD Vance in May 2025, a few days after Leo was elected pope.
