U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday amid heightened tensions after President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked the Catholic leader over the war with Iran.
A State Department spokesman said Rubio’s meeting with Leo was a sign of the “strong” relationship between the Vatican and the United States. The Vatican had no immediate comment on the meeting.
Leo II, America’s first pope, drew Trump’s wrath after firmly criticizing the Iran war and the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies. Trump criticized Leo, calling the Pope ‘soft on crime’.
