AI-Generated Image by Grok – Marco Rubio and Pope Leo XIVRubio has an important mission on ‘the boot’.The military conflict against Iran has led to a strained relationship between the US Donald J. Trump administration and both the Vatican and the Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.In the unfriendly pages of the MSM, we read that two weeks ago, Trump ‘attacked’ Pope Leo XIV and criticized Meloni – but nothing is mentioned about the pontiff meddling in geopolitical issues with his leftist slant, or about Meloni failing to live up to her responsibilities as a NATO member.In order to attempt to rebuild the ties with the Italian allies, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the ‘bel paese’ on Thursday (7), to meet officials from Rome and the Holy See. JUST IN: The greatest Sec. of State Marco Rubio will meet with POPE LEO on Thursday in Italy — ReutersThis would be the first known in-person encounter between Leo and a US cabinet official in almost a yearMarco will represent us with pride and CLASS! pic.twitter.com/wOzvP4XeYY— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 3, 2026Politico reported:“Rubio’s planned May 7-8 trip to Rome and the Vatican is being characterized by Italian media as an effort to ‘thaw relations’ after Trump assailed the pope in mid-April for criticizing the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and then blasted Meloni, who has had close ties with the U.S. president, for taking Leo’s side.According to the media reports, Rubio is expected to meet with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, as well as with the Vatican’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.”Rubio To Visit Rome and Vatican Amid Recent U.S.–Italy TensionsMarco Rubio will travel to Italy and the Vatican this week following a public dispute between Donald Trump and Pope Leo, with the visit seen as an effort to ease strained ties.https://t.co/2RBog5cm6f— The European Conservative (@EuroConOfficial) May 3, 2026Sec. of State Marco Rubio will meet with Pope Leo on Thursday in Italy, per Reuters.— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) May 3, 2026Politico’s report states that ‘there is no indication whether Rubio will meet directly with the pope this week or with Meloni’, but Reuters has sources saying the Secretary of State will indeed meet Leo XIV.Reuters reported:“U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Italy this week to meet with Pope Leo, a Vatican source said on Sunday.[…] The meeting, the first known in-person encounter between Leo and a U.S. cabinet official in nearly a year, is expected to take place on Thursday, said a senior source familiar with the pope’s plans, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak on the matter.The pope, who has taken on a forceful new speaking style, emerged in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the U.S.-Israeli led war with Iran, after previously criticizing the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies.Trump sharply criticized Leo on social media several times in April, at one point calling the pontiff ‘terrible’, in attacks that drew wide attention while Leo was on a four-nation Africa tour.”Read more:Pope Leo XIV BLASTS Trump’s Iran Warning as ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ (VIDEO)/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i