Marco Rubio heading to Italy to speak with Pope Leo amid rising tensions with Trump admin

NewsWorldAmericasUS politicsMarco Rubio heading to Italy to speak with Pope Leo amid rising tensions with Trump adminThe diplomatic visit follows the Pentagon’s recent announcement of a drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, its largest European baseJoshua McElwee & Giulia SegretiSunday 03 May 2026 16:30 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2969755","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pope-leo-marco-rubio-feud-trump-vatican-b2969755.html","title":"Rubio heading to Italy to speak with Pope Leo amid rising tensions with Trump admin"}}ClosePete Hegseth brushes off Pope Leo's criticisms of Iran war: 'Pope’s gonna do his thing'Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_INSIDE_WASHINGTON","regTitle":"Inside Washington","subscriptionGroup":"inside_washington","subscriptionGroupId":"af764e04-87eb-45e6-a84b-a7455ba70a1e","type":"inside_washington","pathPrefix":"/news/world/americas/us-politics","associatedAuthors":["Eric Garcia","John Bowden"],"title":"Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox","mobileTitle":"Get our free Inside Washington email","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/insideWashington1_1.png","label":"I would like to receive morning headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email","newsletterKey":"receiveInsideWashingtonNews","regSourceSec...