Marco Rubio’s visit to Pope Leo is fraught with potential political problems caused by President Trump himself. Catholics are the largest religious group in the United States.
Marco Rubio meets with Pope Leo amid rising tensions with President Trump
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on May 7 as President Trump continues his feud with Catholic leaders.
WASHINGTON – Marco Rubio has added papal peacemaker to his ever-growing list of roles.
President Donald Trump has denounced Pope Leo
The country’s chief diplomat, a Catholic, is scheduled to meet with Leo on May 7 for a possible reset of relations.
Rubio insists that his visit to the Vatican was not to befriend the pope. The Secretary of State said there were urgent matters to discuss, including humanitarian aid to Cuba and the persecution of Christians.
But the trip is fraught with potential political problems for Trump himself, as he skewers the leader of America’s largest religious sect and leading voting bloc ahead of the midterm elections.
“It’s an unnecessary battle between key groups of voters,” said Republican pollster Brent Buchanan, founder of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Signal.
Rubio’s papal visit is an opportunity to mend rifts that could have political consequences for the party. He was the most senior US official to visit the Vatican since President Trump began criticizing the leaders of a religion worshiped by about a fifth of American adults.
“Regardless of what the administration says, this is a complete reset effort, and there is no question that they sent Rubio,” said Christopher Hale, publisher of “Letters from Leo” and former Obama Catholic Outreach director.
The president has continued to criticize Leo, slamming the pope in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on May 4, the night before Rubio’s visit. President Trump accused Leo of being “okay” about Iran’s nuclear weapons possession, which the Pope does not support.
Asked by Rubio at an Oval Office event on May 6 what message he would like to send to the Pope, Trump said “the only message” is that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb.
“I think he’s putting a lot of Catholics and a lot of people at risk,” Trump told Hewitt about Leo’s comments about the war.
The ongoing attacks could complicate Rubio’s efforts to ease tensions with religious leaders who are also heads of state.
Leo said he is not afraid of the administration or “speaking the message of the gospel out loud.”
“If anyone wants to criticize me for preaching the gospel, let me be honest,” he told reporters on May 5.
Catholics fear Trump’s attack
Catholics make up a huge voting bloc and were supporters of Trump when he was first elected president in 2016, but turned to Joe Biden, a Catholic, in 2020 when Trump lost re-election. Trump won the White House with a Catholic in 2024, according to exit polls and polls.
Trump’s support increased among white Catholics, who are more likely to support the Republican Party than Hispanic Catholics.
Buchanan, the pollster, said his research shows that Catholic support for the Republican Party in general voting for Congress declined from March to April 2026, with more respondents now saying they don’t know which party to support. Although he was hesitant to draw conclusions without more data, he noted that the question in the midterm elections will be which party’s base is more enthusiastic.
The decline in Catholic support will be a cause for concern for Republicans heading into the midterm elections, which are expected to be tough for the president’s party.
Kristan Hawkins, president of the conservative group Students for Life and a member of Trump’s 2020 campaign advisory board, said Trump should focus on issues like abortion that galvanize his conservative base in the run-up to November’s midterm elections.
“He needs to take the fight to Planned Parenthood, not the Pope,” Hawkins said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month found that while President Trump’s approval ratings have declined since the outbreak of the Iran war, the pope’s popularity remains high. The poll found that 60% of Americans support Leo, compared to just 36% for Trump.
When Trump’s “confrontation” with the pope began, Catholics “hidden a little bit, but there’s no question about it,” said TW Arrighi, a Catholic Republican consultant.
But Arrighi, a former spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he doesn’t think the controversy will deter floating voters from supporting Republican candidates.
“If there’s a group of Catholics who stopped supporting the Republican Party because of Donald Trump’s attacks on Leo, I’d love to meet with them,” he said. “I feel like those people left a long time ago.”
But the papal dispute is not the only reason President Trump has come under criticism from some religious conservatives in recent weeks. President Trump also shared a widely condemned and now deleted Christ-like image of himself on social media. Trump posted an image the same day he attacked Leo, but all that came down was the AI image.
Daniel Philpott, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, said continuing to quarrel with the pope will only hurt President Trump in the midterm elections.
“Conservatives and populist Catholics, who are most likely to vote for him, don’t like that the president is attacking a pope they respect, not just for his office but for his holiness and wisdom,” he said.
Marco Rubio takes the wheel
Rubio is “quick-witted,” good at reading the mood, and “plays really well with others,” Arrighi said.
“The president recognizes that people make him look good, and Rubio has consistently made him look good,” he added.
Rubio, a former President Trump rival who once said he could not be trusted with the country’s nuclear laws, became one of the most powerful figures in the second administration.
In January, President Trump said at the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland, “Marco was great,” and asked for standing applause. “He will be the best Secretary of State.”
President Trump has regularly praised Rubio’s performance, fueling speculation that the former Florida senator could run for president again. Rubio dismissed the questions, saying he supports Vice President J.D. Vance and is focused on doing a good job as America’s top diplomat.
Mr. Vance, also a Catholic, has been an outspoken defender of Mr. Trump and a critic of the Pope. Arrighi noted that Rubio has “kept his thoughts about the church close to his heart.” If both men run for president, support from Catholic voters will be key. Both men attended the pope’s inaugural mass last year.
Aside from his potential political ambitions, Rubio, as a devout member of the faith, has both diplomatic and personal motivations to seek good relations with the Vatican. The Catholic Church is a major force providing humanitarian aid to Cuba and countries around the world.
In a May 5 briefing with reporters at the White House, Mr. Rubio said he also shared Mr. Leo’s concerns about religious freedom on the African continent, to which he had just returned.
“So we have a lot to talk to them about and we’re pretty involved with them on that front,” Rubio said. “This trip has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that it is normal for us to engage with them and other secretaries of state have done so in the past.”
White House allies agreed that Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser and director of the National Archives, is a natural fit to be the papal peacemaker.
“We’ve all seen that there’s no job that Secretary Rubio can’t do,” said Hawkins, the anti-abortion activist.
