ROME, May 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco ⁠Rubio ⁠will travel to the Vatican ⁠and Italy for meetings this week, two Italian newspapers reported ​on Sunday, weeks after President Donald Trump drew criticism from Christians across the political spectrum by ‌attacking Pope Leo on social media.

Reports ‌in national dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera did not indicate whether Rubio, ⁠a Catholic, ⁠would meet personally with Leo, but said he was expected to meet ​with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s lead diplomatic official.

Rubio last met Leo, the first U.S. pope, in May 2025, alongside Vice President JD Vance. The two U.S. officials attended the new pope’s ​inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and had a private meeting with the pontiff ⁠the ⁠next day.

The pope, who ⁠maintained a relatively ​low-profile on the global stage in the first months of his papacy, emerged in ​recent weeks as an ⁠outspoken critic of the U.S.-Israeli led war on Iran and sharply criticized the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies.

Trump criticized Leo on social media several times in April, at one point calling the pontiff “terrible”.

The U.S. State Department, Vatican press office and an Italian government spokesperson did ⁠not immediately respond to questions about the reports.

Rubio is also set to hold ⁠talks with Italy’s foreign and defence ministers, the papers reported, adding that the trip aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after Trump’s blunt criticism of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – one of his closest European allies – last month.  

The schedule has still not been finalised, Corriere reported, and a meeting with Meloni is not excluded, La Repubblica added.     

The trip comes days after the Pentagon announced the drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, its largest European base, ⁠on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions placed further strain on relations between the U.S. and Europe.

Italy is among the European countries with the biggest presence of U.S. troops, with almost 13,000 active-duty soldiers ​at the end of 2025, across six bases. 

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti ​and Joshua McElwee; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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