Donald Trump is flying out Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Italy to help smooth things over with Pope Leo XIV, with the midterm elections looming.
The 79-year-old president sparked a major crisis after launching a series of deranged attacks on the U.S.-born pontiff, the leader of the Catholic Church, for opposing Trump’s deeply unpopular war in Iran.
This included suggesting Pope Leo was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” Trump also received intense criticism for sharing an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on Truth Social amid his feud with the pope.
Rubio, who is Catholic but was once a practicing Mormon, is expected to travel to the Vatican to meet the pope this week as the Trump administration seeks to repair strained relations with the church ahead of November’s crucial midterm elections, where the GOP is expected to suffer heavy losses.
“Conservative Catholic voters don’t like to see the pope attacked in a rude and coarse way by the administration,” Marco Politi, an Italian journalist and author who specializes in the Vatican, told The Washington Post.
“But one way or another, the confrontation will go on because Leo has become internationally the symbol of antagonism to a policy based on the threat or brutal use of weapons.”
Rubio could also use his time in Europe to meet with senior Italian officials to repair the relationship between Trump and Italy’s populist right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
Like many top U.S. allies in Europe, Meloni has been highly critical of Trump’s war in Iran and has refused to be dragged into the Middle East conflict or efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meloni also broke with Trump over his attacks on the pope, calling them “unacceptable.”
Pope Leo remains defiant amid the barrage of Trump attacks and continues to speak out against the Iran war.
Speaking to reporters last month on his way to Africa, the pope said that he has “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.”
Pope Leo also decried “tyrants” who spend billions on war during a speech in Cameroon shortly after Trump began attacking him.
Rubio being sent to meet the pope for such an important task could also be seen as a major snub for Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the Trump administration, who converted in 2019 at the age of 35.
Rubio and Vance are seen as the top two contenders for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, with Trump reportedly asking his close aides which of the two would be the best person to hand over the MAGA crown to.
It’s not the first time Rubio has been roped into a new role. He has added several jobs to his resume while serving as Trump’s top diplomat.
At one point, Rubio held four jobs within the administration at the same time: Secretary of State, interim National Security Adviser, acting National Archivist, and head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Over the weekend, the meme of Rubio having several jobs continued as videos emerged of him DJing at a family wedding.
