{"id":73188,"date":"2026-05-07T09:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/rubio-holds-constructive-meeting-with-pope-leo-after-trump-sends-hard-line-iran-message-to-vatican\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:54:48","slug":"rubio-holds-constructive-meeting-with-pope-leo-after-trump-sends-hard-line-iran-message-to-vatican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/rubio-holds-constructive-meeting-with-pope-leo-after-trump-sends-hard-line-iran-message-to-vatican\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio holds \u2018constructive\u2019 meeting with Pope Leo after Trump sends hard-line Iran message to Vatican"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio<\/a>\u00a0met with\u00a0Pope Leo\u00a0at the Vatican for “constructive” conversations on Thursday following heightened tensions between President Donald Trump and the pontiff over the U.S.-Iran conflict.<\/p>\n

“The conversations today were friendly and constructive,” a State Department<\/a> official told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Rubio, a Catholic, held a private meeting with the pope to reaffirm the Vatican-U.S. partnership early on Thursday morning. Trump said he sent Rubio to deliver what he described as a “very simple” message: Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

Rubio and Leo discussed the situation in the Middle East and “topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,” according to a State Department readout.<\/p>\n

RUBIO TO VISIT ITALY, VATICAN AMID TROOP DRAWDOWN CALL, TENSION WITH TRUMP, POPE LEO: REPORTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See<\/a> and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” said spokesperson Tommy Pigott in a statement.<\/p>\n

The meeting marked the Trump administration\u2019s first engagement with the pontiff in nearly a year following tension.<\/p>\n

POPE LEO CALLS OUT TRUMP\u2019S IRAN RHETORIC BEFORE LAST-MINUTE CEASEFIRE EMERGES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The pope has criticized the war with Iran<\/a> by casting the conflict as a moral issue, warning that rhetoric targeting Iran\u2019s population crosses a dangerous line.<\/p>\n

“There has also been this threat\u00a0against the entire people of Iran<\/a>, and this is truly unacceptable,” the pope said in April. “There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more so a moral issue for the good of the whole entire population.”<\/p>\n

POPE LEO SLAMS THOSE WHO ‘MANIPULATE RELIGION’ FOR MILITARY OR POLITICAL GAIN, TRUMP RESPONDS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The comments were seemingly in reference to one of Trump’s Truth Social posts, where he wrote, “A whole civilization will die tonight<\/a>, never to be brought back again. I don\u2019t want that to happen, but it probably will… God Bless the Great People of Iran!”<\/p>\n

Trump has taken an aggressive approach to his messaging with Iran and told reporters on Wednesday he only has one message for the pope.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you this, that as far as the Pope is concerned, and it’s very simple. Whether I make him happy or I don’t make him happy, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And he seemed to be saying that they can. And I say they cannot, because if that happened, the entire world would be hostage. And we’re not going to let that happen,” he said.<\/p>\n

Following his meeting with the pope, Rubio met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Holy See, to discuss shared priorities related to the conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n

“They reviewed ongoing humanitarian efforts in the Western Hemisphere and efforts to achieve a durable peace in the Middle East.\u00a0The discussion reflected the enduring partnership between the United States and the Holy See in advancing religious freedom,” said Pigott in a readout.<\/p>\n

Rubio is set to meet with<\/a> Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni\u00a0on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio\u00a0met with\u00a0Pope Leo\u00a0at the Vatican for “constructive” conversations on Thursday following heightened tensions between President Donald Trump and the pontiff over the U.S.-Iran conflict. “The conversations today were friendly and constructive,” a State Department official told Fox News Digital. Rubio, a Catholic, held a private meeting with the pope to reaffirm the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}