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The US Secretary of State will meet Parolin on Thursday and Tajani and Crosetto on Friday, while it is not known whether there will be an audience with Pope Leo or a meeting with Prime Minister Meloni...
There will be so many issues to clarify that choosing where to start will not be easy. First, he will stop at the Vatican, then he will move on to the Italian Government. Next Thursday and Friday, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will be in Rome for a series of meetings with the Holy See and the Italian executive. The key word is the “melting” of bilateral relations. A mission not impossible, but very complicated. This is Rubio’s third visit to Italy, after the one last May at Villa Madama and his participation in the inauguration of the Winter Olympics, together with JD Vance, in February.
The agenda for Rubio's visit to Rome is not yet finalized, but it includes three meetings. He will first meet with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Pietro Parolin.
Donald Trump has called Pope Leo XIV “weak in the face of crime” and “terrible at foreign policy,” even claiming credit for his election as head of the Church (“if I weren’t in the White House, he wouldn’t be Pope”). These statements have been responded to by the Pope himself: “I’m not a politician, I’ll continue to speak out against war.”
The next day, Rubio will meet with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and that same day he will participate in a working lunch with Defense Minister Guido Crosetto. A meeting between the US secretary and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is not ruled out, but has not been confirmed: "I want to meet her," he announced. Meanwhile, the question remains whether Pope Leo XIV will grant him an audience.
Rubio's visit was announced a few days ago to the Italian government through a letter from US Ambassador Tilman J. Fertitta, who has been working for weeks with his counterpart in Washington, Marco Peronaci, to rebuild the "bridge" between Italy and the US, which has been damaged by Trump's verbal attacks on Meloni. The latter is aware that the relationship with the former president has become increasingly complicated and political.
A key moment was Trump's interview with Viviana Mazza of Corriere della Sera on April 14: 7 minutes of criticism of the Italian prime minister, both personally and politically ("I thought she had courage, but I was wrong: I'm shocked, she's not the same anymore, she doesn't want to help us").
The cause is related to Rome's stance on the war in Iran, as well as Meloni's defense of Pope Leo XIV ("Unacceptable words"). After weeks of tension and differences of opinion, including the Sigonella issue, Trump has increased his attacks on the Italian government. The situation has escalated to the latest threat to strike NATO countries that, according to him, are not supporting him in Iran. He has also warned of the withdrawal of American troops from Italy, Spain and Germany. Italy currently hosts seven strategic bases and between 13,000 and 15,000 American soldiers.
In this context, Rubio is expected to play a mediating role, attempting to improve relations with the Vatican and restore dialogue between the two leaders, Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump, who are expected to meet at the G7 summit in Evian, Switzerland, in less than a month and a half.
When the tensions became public, Meloni declared that he "expected" Trump's reaction, but at the same time expressed solidarity with him for the assassination attempt and praised the efforts in the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. However, diplomatic, military and economic relations remain essential, especially when it comes to the US: this is the logic of realpolitik. /Adapted from Corriere /
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