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Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied speculations Tuesday that his upcoming visit to the Vatican is intended to smooth things over between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump.

Rubio will visit the Vatican and meet with Leo on Thursday while tensions are high between the pope and Trump, particularly over the Iran war. He said during a White House press briefing that the trip had nothing to do with Trump’s ongoing spats with the pope.

“Is this an attempt to smooth things over with the pope given the rhetoric between President Trump and Pope Leo?” a reporter asked.

“No, I mean, it’s a trip we had planned from before and obviously we had some stuff that happened,” Rubio said. “No, look, there’s a lot to talk about with the Vatican and I’ll give you one example. The pope just had a trip to Africa where the church is growing very vibrantly. And we have shared concerns about religious freedom, religious freedom in different parts of the world and we’d love to talk to them about that.”

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The State Department further said Rubio will meet with the Holy See “to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere.”

As he departed from Castel Gandolfo, Leo said that the Church has consistently spoken out against nuclear weapons. He added that anyone who wishes to criticize him should do so “truthfully.”

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Trump accused the pope of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because he allegedly believed it is “fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” In response to Trump, Rubio stated that allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon could endanger Catholics and Christians around the world.

“I think what the president basically said is Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics and Christians and others for that matter,” Rubio said. “It goes back to the central point, I think the president, without trying to speak for him, but I think I can characterize it this way. He doesn’t understand why anybody, leave aside the pope, the president and I, for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon.”

“Look what they’re doing with the straits right now. They’re holding the whole world hostage. They have these sailors on commercial ships who are gonna starve to death out there. They don’t care,” Rubio continued. “They don’t care that this is melting down economies around the world, even of their own allies. This is what they’re doing with the straits. What do you think they would do if they had a nuclear weapon? They would hold the world hostage with that nuclear weapon.”

Leo condemned the war in Iran, calling it an “unacceptable” conflict fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence” in an April 7 statement. He also denounced Trump’s warning on April 7 that a “whole civilization” in Iran will be destroyed if the Iranian regime failed to reach an agreement to end the conflict.

Regarding the pontiff’s criticism of the Iran war, Trump accused the pontiff of being “weak” and “terrible” on foreign policy and other issues in a Truth Social post on April 12. The following day, Leo said he had “no fear” of the Trump administration’s criticisms and vowed to continue preaching the Gospel.

Trump posted an artificial intelligence (AI) image that depicted himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick on Orthodox Easter. He deleted the post after receiving widespread criticism from Christians, and later claimed he thought he was being depicted as a Red Cross doctor.

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