The Pope gave Marco Rubio an olive branch as a gift. But could only say ‘Wow OK’ when he saw what the US brought him

NewsWorldAmericasUS politicsThe Pope gave Marco Rubio an olive branch as a gift. But could only say ‘Wow OK’ when he saw what the US brought himThe summit comes as relations between the White House and the Vatican remain at a historic lowpointBrendan Rascius in New York Thursday 07 May 2026 20:49 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":"b2972529","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pope-marco-rubio-gift-olive-branch-b2972529.html","title":"Marco Rubio gifted Pope Leo a crystal football. His response: ‘Wow, OK’"}}ClosePope Leo's bank in the US hung up on him as they thought it was a prank callSign 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":"NSC","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","regSourceSection":"US politics"},"isClimate":false}A celebratory moment...