Rubio, who is also serving as the United States National Security Adviser, met privately with the pontiff at the Apostolic Palace in The meeting comes amid increasingly strained relations between President Pope Leo, the first American-born pope, has repeatedly called for peace and dialogue while criticising war and nuclear escalation, positions that have drawn sharp reactions from Trump in recent weeks.
According to the U.S. State Department, both sides discussed issues of mutual concern, including peace efforts in the Middle East, religious freedom and humanitarian challenges across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Rubio, a practicing Catholic, reportedly spent more than two hours at the Vatican during the visit, marking the first known meeting between the Pope and a senior member of the Trump administration in nearly a year.
The diplomatic engagement also comes at a sensitive political moment in the United States, where Trump’s criticism of the Pope has generated backlash among some Catholic voters and deepened concerns over deteriorating ties between Washington and the Vatican.