US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the audience he had with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican on Thursday was highly positive.
"We have a very strong relationship with the Vatican and this trip had been planned long in advance," said Rubio, whose visit to Rome had been billed as a 'relations-thawing' mission after US President Donald Trump's criticism of Pope Leo over his opposition to the Iran war and the angry words he directed at Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni following her defence of the pontiff "It was a very good meeting (with Leo); we talked about different areas of the world, where the Vatican has a presence".
On Friday Rubio had talks with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani at the foreign ministry in Rome and with Meloni at her office at Palazzo Chigi.
