Marco Rubio, the White House’s go-to fixer, will meet with Pope Leo XIV this week.
In an attempt to mend America’s damaged relationship with the pope, the 54-year-old Secretary of State is flying to the Vatican on a crucial diplomatic rescue mission.
In what insiders refer to as a diplomatic musical chairs game, the administration is rearranging its most influential members.The Daily Mail has been informed by three sources that Rubio made the initial offer.
Notably, Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, approved the trip, which was purportedly intended to promote humanitarian help to Cuba via Catholic Charities.
However, the two-day trip takes place only a few weeks after Donald Trump sparked a worldwide controversy by launching a scathing attack on the Holy See in response to resistance to his war on Iran.
Tension was exacerbated by an odd social media episode in which Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure on social media, which he quickly removed after receiving criticism, although claiming it depicted him as a “physician.”
The meeting on Thursday will be the first time the pontiff and a senior government official have met in person since tensions erupted.
Insiders acknowledge behind closed doors that Rubio, a devoted Catholic, will have to tidy up a huge mess. Vice President JD Vance, 41, who became a Catholic at the age of 35, is conspicuously absent from the trip.
According to one source, “Rubio has the most class.” In general, he is highly popular. He is a devoted Catholic, which makes him the ideal individual to communicate with the Pope.
A strange social media episode in which Trump posted—and then quickly removed—an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure exacerbated the tension that resulted from the back and forth between Trump and the Pope on the war in Iran.
At the White House Press conference on Tuesday, Secretary Rubio discussed the May 6–8 trip, stating that it was “planned before” and that he and the Pope had “concerns about religious freedom.”
“We donated $6 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, but they won’t let us deliver it.” Regarding his trip’s objectives, Rubio stated, “We distribute it through the church and we would like to do more.”
The Daily Mail was informed by an individual with knowledge of Rubio’s plans that the aid-focused trip “was planned very quickly over the last few weeks.”
The source went on, “Rubio is going there to make sure that the aid goes to the people and not the regime.”
The Vice President is skipping the next trip to the Vatican despite being a devout Catholic and having accompanied Rubio there last year. When he responded to the Pope’s criticism of the administration’s foreign policy at a Turning Point USA convention in Georgia late last month, he incited anger.
Vance criticised the pope’s claim that Jesus “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” claiming the pope was disregarding major, “just” wars like World War II.
The Pope would “rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” according to the President during an interview on Monday night.
“I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people,” he added. “I don’t think that’s very good.”
In defence of the President’s remarks, Rubio stated that Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon since they would use it against regions that “have a lot of Catholics.”
Brett Bruen, a former 12-year US ambassador who served in the Obama administration, used direct language to describe the Vatican’s conflict with the US.
According to Bruen, “JD Vance is probably persona non grata at the Vatican.””As a recent Catholic convert, you don’t tell God’s representative on earth what his role in maintaining peace is and isn’t.” Rubio hasn’t been all that stupid.
In response, State Department Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson told the Daily Mail that there is no “wedge” between the Secretary and the Vice President when it comes to Rubio’s management of the trip.
In interviews, Vance has stated that Rubio is “doing a great job” and that he is his “closest friend” in the government.
“The Secretary and the entire Trump administration have complete and total confidence in the Vice President as a trusted member of the President’s national security team,” Johnson stated.
Wiles assisted in organising Vance’s previously scheduled, three-stop journey to Iowa, Ohio, and Oklahoma due to the midterms, a source acquainted with these plans told the Daily Mail.
The source stated that Wiles wants to “cut back on foreign travel” and “keep the focus on domestic issues” as much as possible. “His domestic travel has been in the works for quite some time.”
Why, then, was Vance dispatched to Pakistan for peace negotiations with Iran last month?
Vice President JD Vance and Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif meet outside of the Islamabad Talks.
Last month, a US group that included President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace negotiations.
According to two White House sources familiar with the trip, Vance and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, proposed that the Vice President head negotiations with Iran, and the President approved the notion.
However, he left the negotiations without a deal.
With only six months until the midterm elections, Vance’s attention will be entirely on “America.” According to insiders, this shift was unavoidable after his scorched-earth rhetoric further damaged the administration’s relationship with the Vatican. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?” Did God support the Americans who freed Holocaust camps and those innocent people who had survived the Holocaust? “I think the answer is definitely yes,” Vance stated during the conference. “We can, of course, disagree about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology, just as it’s important for the Vice President of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy.”
Sending Rubio to the Vatican “just makes sense,” according to many White House officials.
“In general, Rubio is kind of the one-size-fits-all approach,” a White House insider told the Daily Mail. That’s why it’s a common joke that he works so many jobs, if you will. His greatest strength is that he is among the most gentle members of the administrative team.
According to a former state department insider, Rubio is uniquely qualified to enter the lion’s den because of his demeanour.
According to the source, “Rubio has the most class.” He is the ideal individual to communicate with the Pope because he is normally well-liked. It also helps that he is a devoted Catholic.
Rubio is expected to talk about “mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere” and the Middle East while in Rome, with discussions about Cuba being a top priority for the Secretary.
To round up the sprint, Rubio will meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday after his meetings at the Vatican.
The Pope’s recent criticism of the administration’s tough stance on Iran and his urgent demands for a ceasefire in regional wars are at the heart of this developing holy discord.
The Pope recently accused leaders of manipulating “the very name of God” for personal benefit, saying, “Peace is not something we must invent, it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbour as a brother and as our sister.”
Last month, Trump retaliated viciously on Truth Social.
The President wrote, “Leo needs to get his act together as Pope.” Additionally, Trump called the spiritual leader “weak on crime” in public.
The Pope recently accused leaders of manipulating “the very name of God” for their personal benefit, saying, “Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbour as a brother and as our sister.”
In response to enquiries concerning the growing division in April, Trump rejected the notion of a personal grudge while reiterating his commitment to policy: “I have to do what’s right.” That must be understood by the Pope. To put it simply, I have nothing against the Pope. “His brother is MAGA all the way,” Trump remarked, alluding to Louis, the brother of the pope. “I won’t argue with him.” The pope said something. He claims that Iran is capable of possessing nuclear weapons.
Clergy rushed to support Leo XIV and called the President’s verbal abuse “inappropriate,” causing major unrest among US Catholics.
However, specialists in international policy caution that words alone won’t be sufficient to resolve the issue.
While in Italy, Bruen requested that the Secretary of State conduct a concrete act of goodwill of his own.
Bruen suggested that Rubio “absolutely needs to go to UN food organisations when in Rome.” “He must commit to helping the hungry.” That would significantly improve their relationship. It would seem really heartless if he didn’t go.
Given his recent criticism of the war, former State Department consultant John Sitilides, who served under the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, said the discussion regarding Iran is highly pertinent to the Vatican.
“The Defence Intelligence Agency projected in May last year that Iran by 2035 could possess sixty ICBMs capable of striking Europe and even the continental United States 6,000 miles away,” the president told the Daily Mail, following a string of public remarks in which he called the pope “weak on crime” and denounced the Vatican’s position on international security.
“Secretary Rubio’s task is to explain the Trump administration’s stance that Iran started this war to Pope Leo and Italian Prime Minister Meloni.”
Rubio will have to “persuasively explain” their position, according to Sitilides, a current Senior Fellow for Global Risks at the Center for the National Interest.
This entails making sure Iran “does not become the North Korea of the future Middle East, armed with hypersonic glide missiles that can strike targets throughout Europe, including 2,000 miles away in Rome.”
“President Trump is grateful for everything Secretary Rubio is doing to lead the State Department and represent the United States overseas,” White House spokesman Anna Kelly told the Daily Mail.
“The President has also assigned Vice President Vance to advance the administration’s domestic priorities, which he is doing in Iowa today, and to advance American interests in critical Iran negotiations and beyond.”
