politics
Vatican Secretary of State Meets with Marco Rubio Amid Tensions Between Trump and Pope Leo
Cardinal Pietro Parolin described President Donald Trump's disparaging attacks on Pope Leo as 'strange, to say the least' on Wednesday. The comments came one day before U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet the pope at the Vatican, their first such encounter in nearly a year. Parolin said the meeting was requested by the U.S. side.
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U.S. " He added that he would not want to get into judgments or personal evaluations about this.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to hold talks with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday. The meeting is the first known encounter between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year.
U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See said on Tuesday that the conversation was likely to be 'frank'. U.S. He stated that Leo would listen carefully to what Rubio had to say.
"I imagine they'll talk about everything that has happened in recent days," the cardinal added. -Israeli war on Iran and of the Trump administration's hardline anti-immigration policies. President Donald Trump has kept up an unprecedented series of public attacks on the pope in recent weeks.
On Monday, Trump falsely suggested the pope believed it was okay for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. That same day, President Donald Trump said Pope Leo was "endangering a lot of Catholics" by opposing the war. Pope Leo told journalists after the latest attack that he was spreading the Christian message of peace.
The pope also firmly rejected the idea that he supported nuclear weapons. U.S. That earlier encounter marked the last known high-level meeting between the pope and Trump administration officials before the current tensions. Cardinal Pietro Parolin is the Vatican Secretary of State.
