Rubio seeks to ease tensions with US pope

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. Rubio,

Rubio plans to visit the Vatican this week as tensions between Trump and the pope rise

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this week in a bid to ease rising tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over U.S. policies, particularly the Iran war. The State Department said Monday that Rubio, a Catholic who with this trip will have visited Italy or the Vatican at least three times as the Republican

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