VATICAN CITY, May 08 (Reuters): A Vatican statement after Pope Leo's meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which said the two had pledged to improve bilateral relations, was a recognition of unprecedented tensions, insiders and analysts said.
Rubio's meeting on Thursday with Leo, the first US pope, garnered wide public attention as President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the pontiff over the Iran war.
The Vatican statement after the 45-minute encounter, the first between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, said the two leaders had "renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations".
"(The) statement makes it clear that, at present, there is work to do," Peter Martin, a former diplomat at the US Embassy to the Holy See who served during Democratic and Republican administrations, told Reuters.
Rubio was asked by journalists on Friday if, following the meeting with Leo, he would advise Trump to stop attacking the pope.
"The president will always speak clearly about how he feels about the US and US policy," the cabinet secretary responded. "I think we can do that and continue to also have a very productive ... relationship with the church."
Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican specialist who co-wrote a book with the late Pope Francis, said the Vatican statement's focus on the need to build bilateral relations suggests "that they are at the moment not good".
The US embassy to the Holy See said on X after the meeting that Leo and Rubio had discussed "topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere".
"The United States and Holy See partnership in advancing religious freedom is strong," Rubio said on X, referencing his later meetings at the Vatican on Thursday with senior Vatican officials.
The Vatican statement covered both the Leo-Rubio encounter and the secretary's subsequent Vatican meetings, but mentioned neither the Western Hemisphere, nor religious freedom.
