All posts tagged: Pope

‘Peacemaker’ Rubio tries to appease pope over spat with Trump – Press Review

‘Peacemaker’ Rubio tries to appease pope over spat with Trump – Press Review

Published by Sam Flores

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, May 8: The Italian dailies mark Pope Leo XIV’s first year at the Vatican, hailing his “discreet and collegial” papacy. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with the pope in a bid to appease tensions after a public spat between the pontiff and US President Donald Trump. Also: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces major losses in local elections, British conservationist David Attenborough turns 100 and BTS grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Exactly a year ago, white smoke at the Vatican indicated a new leader of the Catholic Church: Robert Francis Prevost, who became Pope Leo XIV. The pontiff marks his first year in Naples and Pompeii, much to the jubilation of the Naples-based paper Il Mattino. “Welcome Pope Leo,” it says on its front page. French paper Ouest-France takes stock of the pope’s first year at the helm, describing him as “more discreet and collegial” than his predecessor. FRANCE 24‘s website reminds us that Leo is the first American pope. He is from Chicago, loves the White Sox, plays …

Pope will inaugurate Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia tower and meet with migrants in June trip to Spain

Pope will inaugurate Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia tower and meet with migrants in June trip to Spain

Published by Sam Flores

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will inaugurate the soaring central tower of Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica when he visits Spain next month in a weeklong trip that will also take him to a migrant reception center in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said Wednesday. The June 6-12 visit will first bring Leo to Madrid for meetings with the government, parliament and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. He will also preside over a prayer vigil with young people that will recall the last time a pope visited Spain: 2011, when Madrid hosted World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI. In Barcelona, Leo will be on hand to mark the 100th anniversary, on June 10, of the death of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed Sagrada Familia, the world’s tallest church. Leo will celebrate an evening Mass in the basilica and inaugurate its Tower of Jesus Christ, the soaring central piece that was moved into place in February. The tower brought Sagrada Familia to its maximum height, 172½ meters (around 566 feet) above Barcelona, …

Rubio visits Vatican amid escalating tensions between Trump and Pope Leo

Rubio visits Vatican amid escalating tensions between Trump and Pope Leo

Published by Sam Flores

MILAN (RNS) — Amid a growing public rift between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump — arguably the two most influential American-born figures in the world — Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Vatican on Thursday (May 7), seeking to highlight common ground between the Holy See and the Trump administration. Rubio’s meeting with Vatican officials lasted roughly two and a half hours and focused on “the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” read a statement by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See on X. Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/BIZ9SfW5nY — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2026 “The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment to fostering strong bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States,” read a Vatican statement published shortly after the meeting. It also stated that the pope and Rubio addressed international issues, such as war, political tensions, humanitarian crises and “the need to …

US underlines ‘strong’ Vatican ties after Rubio meets Pope Leo

US underlines ‘strong’ Vatican ties after Rubio meets Pope Leo

Published by Sam Flores

“WE’LL LISTEN TO HIM” The US diplomat, a devout Catholic, had earlier sought to play down the rift between Trump and the pope, which sparked global headlines and risked alienating Catholic US voters. The US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, told reporters this week it would likely be a “frank conversation”. For the Vatican’s part, “we’ll listen to him”, Parolin had said on Wednesday, noting that Washington initiated the meeting. The Trump administration had celebrated the election one year ago – May 8, 2025 – of Leo, the first US pontiff in history. But its relations with the Holy See have since sharply deteriorated. Trump’s unprecedented attack came after Leo called for peace in the Middle East war launched by Israel and the United States. The pontiff condemned a threat by Trump to destroy Iranian civilisation as “truly unacceptable”. Before leaving for Rome, Rubio said the trip had been planned before the clash, adding: “There’s a lot to talk about with the Vatican.” On Thursday, a US source hailed the welcome extended to …

Rubio meets with Pope Leo at Vatican

Rubio meets with Pope Leo at Vatican

Published by Sam Flores

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican early Thursday, days after President Trump reignited his feud with the American-born pontiff over the Iran war. Rubio met with the pope at 11:30 a.m. local time, according to his daily public schedule. At 12:15 p.m., he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin,… Source link

Iran War; Oil industry; Pope Leo; Prediction market : NPR

Iran War; Oil industry; Pope Leo; Prediction market : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. Today’s top stories Iran is evaluating the Trump administration’s latest proposal to end the war, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said yesterday. President Trump says the U.S. is on the verge of a deal, and the Iranians are desperate to make one. But there has not yet been a definitive Iranian response to the U.S. proposal. A container ship sits at anchor as a small motorboat passes in the foreground in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on May 2. Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption toggle caption Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP 🎧 Trump has said that the U.S. has won the war, but very few of his objectives in the conflict have been met, NPR’s Mara Liasson tells Up First. The U.S. has not pulled its military forces from the area. Trump has again said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. …

Rubio visits Rome aiming to repair White House ties with Pope Leo

Rubio visits Rome aiming to repair White House ties with Pope Leo

Published by Sam Flores

ROME — Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Thursday with Pope Leo XIV with relations between the Vatican and the White House at a low point over President Donald Trump’s repeated, direct criticism of the U.S.-born pontiff who has emerged as a leading global critic of the war in Iran and of the administration’s invocation of God in pursuing military action that has resulted in the deaths of thousands. Source link

Marco Rubio may lean on a complicated Catholicism with Pope Leo

Marco Rubio may lean on a complicated Catholicism with Pope Leo

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Shortly after Pope Leo XIV was elected last May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, himself a Catholic, was asked about his thoughts on the newly minted pontiff’s comments signaling deep concern for immigrants. After defending President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts — which Pope Leo would end up publicly criticizing — Rubio, the son of immigrants, downplayed the pope’s political relevance. “I don’t view the papacy as a political office,” Rubio said. “I view it as a spiritual one.” But when asked by White House reporters on Tuesday (May 5) about his meeting with the pope slated for later this week, the secretary suggested Leo may have significant political cachet after all. “The pope is obviously the Vicar of Christ, as a Roman Catholic, but he’s also the head of a nation-state,” Rubio said, outlining his hopes for partnering with the Holy See on various topics, such as religious liberty. “It’s an organization that has a presence in over 100-something countries around the world, and we engage with the Vatican quite a bit …

Managing an ally, appealing to a pope – POLITICO

Managing an ally, appealing to a pope – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

And Crosetto said at an event during Italy’s Armed Forces Day that “in a world that has gone crazy … it is our duty to ensure that Italy can defend itself,” validating Trump’s longstanding demand that NATO allies should do — and spend — more to defend themselves. Meloni will try to convey alignment when she sits down with Rubio, including through increased defense spending, according to analyst Filippo Simonelli of the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali think tank. And longer-term commitments offer a potential path to ease tensions without requiring immediate public concessions: Crosetto’s meeting is a sign that something could move in that direction, Simonelli argued. “Italy is not strictly necessary, but the U.S. is losing ground with allies, so reinforcing ties with a middle power may in the end be worth the effort,” continued Simonelli. “They will likely try to find some meeting point and a path forward for cooperation.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is navigating a more complicated domestic landscape. | Simona Granati – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images On Wednesday, the …