(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 because they’re present in many different places.”
The shift hints at the unusual, and unusually contentious, relationship the Trump administration has forged with the Vatican under Pope Leo, a dynamic that Rubio — arguably the second most prominent Catholic in the president’s Cabinet, after Vice President JD Vance — will be forced to navigate even after his meeting with Leo. It is perhaps an especially tricky task for Rubio, who has insisted the church …