Overview
- Marco Rubio met Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace on Thursday in a 45‑minute private audience that the State Department described as friendly and constructive.
- The talks covered ending hostilities with Iran and a U.S.-reviewed 14‑point peace proposal, with additional discussion of crises in Lebanon, Ukraine and Venezuela.
- Rubio raised expanding humanitarian aid to Cuba through the Catholic Church after a prior $6 million tranche via Caritas, while the Vatican restated its long‑standing opposition to the U.S. embargo.
- Tensions remain after President Donald Trump accused the pope of being fine with an Iranian nuclear weapon, a claim the Vatican rejected while reaffirming its blanket opposition to nuclear arms.
- There is still no recorded Trump–pope phone call, and Rubio’s follow‑on meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and a planned session with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni position the U.S. to pursue quieter diplomacy next.