Rubio arrives at Vatican to meet Pope Leo XIV

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Rome on Thursday ahead of meetings at the Vatican and with Italian officials.

Rubio landed at Ciampino Airport under heightened security before heading to the Vatican, according to ANSA.

Accompanied by US Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, Rubio was welcomed at the Vatican by Monsignor Petar Rajic, prefect of the Papal Household, before entering the Apostolic Palace for a meeting with Pope Leo XIV.

The closed-door meeting between the pontiff and Rubio is expected to last about half an hour. Rubio will meet afterward with the Vatican's top diplomat, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Rubio is also expected to hold talks Friday at Palazzo Chigi, the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The visit comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts involving the US, Europe and the Vatican on international security and geopolitical issues.

According to ANSA, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was also at the Vatican on Thursday morning and met the pope shortly before Rubio's arrival.

The meeting came after US President Donald Trump accused the pope of "endangering a lot of Catholics," claiming that the pontiff "thinks it's fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon," in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this week.

The comments mark the latest escalation in tensions between the White House and the Vatican, following earlier criticism by the pope of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Rubio himself is a Catholic, and received his first communion from the church in 1984.