Reports in national dailies La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera did not indicate whether Rubio, a Catholic, would meet personally with Leo, but said he ​was expected to meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s lead diplomatic ​official.

Rubio last met Leo, the first US pope, in May 2025, alongside ⁠Vice President JD Vance.

The two US officials attended the new pope’s inaugural ​Mass in St. Peter’s Square and had a private meeting with the pontiff the ​next day.

The pope, who maintained a relatively low profile on the global stage in the first months of his papacy, emerged in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli-led war on ​Iran and sharply criticised the Trump administration’s hard-line anti-immigration policies.

Trump criticised Leo on social ​media several times in April, at one point calling the pontiff “terrible”.

The US State Department, Vatican press ‌office ⁠and an Italian government spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the reports.

Rubio is also set to hold talks with Italy’s foreign and defence ministers, the papers reported, adding that the trip aimed at easing tensions between the two countries ​after Trump’s blunt criticism of ​Italian Prime Minister ⁠Giorgia Meloni — one of his closest European allies — last month.

The schedule has still not been finalised, Corriere reported, and a meeting ​with Meloni is not excluded, La Repubblica added.

The trip comes ​days after ⁠the Pentagon announced the drawdown of 5,000 US troops from Germany, its largest European base, on Friday, as a rift over the Iran war and tariff tensions placed further strain ⁠on ​relations between the US and Europe.

Italy is among ​the European countries with the biggest presence of US troops, with almost 13,000 active-duty soldiers at the end of ​2025, across six bases.