US secretary of state will hold talks with Italian government, also berated by Trump for not supporting Iran war
Marco Rubio, after landing at Ciampino airport in Rome on Thursday, is expected to meet Leo at the Apostolic Palace. Marco Rubio, after landing at Ciampino airport in Rome on Thursday, is expected to meet Leo at the Apostolic Palace.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is to meet Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday in an effort to ease tensions after Donald Trump’s repeated criticisms of the first North American pontiff. Amid unprecedented strain on relations between the Holy See and Washington, Rubio is expected to meet Leo at the Apostolic Palace in the morning, before holding a series of meetings with the Italian government.and “endangering a lot of Catholics’’ with his stance against the Iran war, in the latest attack by the US president on the pontiff.
On Wednesday, Leo responded: “If anyone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the gospel, let them do so with the truth: the church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, there is no doubt about that. I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of God’s word.
”and told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that the president’s recent criticism of the pontiff was rooted in his opposition to Iran potentially obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could be used against millions of Catholics around the world. Trump “doesn’t understand why anyone – leave aside the pope – would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said. Relations between the Vatican and Washington have never been so fraught.
In April, the US president lashed out at Leo over the, branding him “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy”, and claiming he had only been elected pontiff because Trump himself occupied the White House. Trump later shared – before deleting – Rubio’s likely goal is to try to smooth over Trump’s insults and repair increasingly damaged ties between the US and the.
According to several analysts, the secretary of state is expected to defend Washington’s rationale for launching the war in Iran, while carefully avoiding a direct clash with the church’s position.on Tuesday: “I count on no one. I count only on our Lord Jesus Christ. ” He added that Trump attacking Leo “in this way, or reproaching him for what he does, seems rather strange, to say the least”.
Rubio will meet the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Friday as relations between Rome and Washington have also deteriorated. Lorenzo Castellani, a political historian at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, said Trump’s attacks on the pope, which have provoked widespread outrage inwhere the papacy plays a crucial role in the political and cultural imagination, ‘‘has effectively forced Meloni to distance herself from the US president’’, despite, earlier this year, saying she hoped Trump would one day receive the Nobel peace prize.
, Rubio’s goal in talks with Italy will not necessarily be to mend relations, but rather to reassert Trump’s position after theAccording to Castellani, Meloni’s shift from being a staunch Trump ally to adopting a more critical stance towards the US president is driven by political and electoral considerations.
‘‘For the first time since the second world war, foreign policy has become a central concern for Italian public opinion,’’ Castellani said. ‘‘This shift had already begun with the war in Ukraine, but the current crisis represents a decisive escalation. The reason is simple: this is a conflict with direct geopolitical and economic consequences for Italy and for ‘For this reason, he added, “Meloni can no longer maintain a clear separation between foreign and domestic policy.
In the past, she has taken positions that ran counter to segments of her own electorate. But now, recent polling suggests that across both the right and the left there is broad agreement in condemning the position of Trump. The same sentiments now cut across a vast portion of the electorate – arguably as much as 80 to 90%.
’’ Also expected to feature prominently in the talks is the future of the roughly 13,000 US military personnel stationed across seven naval bases in Italy. Pope Leo rejects claim he supports nuclear weapons after Trump tiradeMarco Rubio to visit Rome, reportedly to ‘thaw’ US relations with Pope and MeloniPope Leo visits Algeria in sign of Africa’s growing importance to Catholic churchPope Leo’s first Easter: one year in, what do Catholics think of the new pontiff?
Pope Leo calls for kindness to strangers and the poor in Christmas Eve message
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