Rubio to meet Pope Leo at the Vatican

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to play down the rift between Donald Trump and Pope Leo ahead of his meeting with the leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday at the Vatican.

In remarks to reporters on Tuesday, Rubio said the trip was planned before Trump lashed out at the Pope for criticizing the war in Iran.

In Trump's latest remarks, the president claimed the pope thinks it is "OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

"Obviously we had some stuff that happened … There's a lot to talk about with the Vatican," Rubio told reporters.

Rubio, who is Catholic, is due to arrive at the Vatican after 11 a.m. local time (1000 GMT), and is expected to meet privately with the pontiff for around 30 minutes. He will then meet with the Vatican's top diplomat, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

On Wednesday, Parolin said "I imagine we'll talk about everything that's happened in recent days, we can't avoid touching on these topics."

"We'll listen to him", Parolin added, while noting that Washington initiated the meeting.

Trump attacks Pope Leo

Elected one year ago this Friday, Pope Leo XIVis the first US pope. He angered Trump after becoming a prominent critic of the Iran war and the Trump administration's hardline anti-immigration policies.

Despite having enjoyed heavy support from Catholic voters, Trump has continued a series of verbal attacks against the pope in recent weeks.

Earlier in April, Trump claimed Leo "wouldn't be in the Vatican" if he weren't president, after the pope said in a statement "no cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood." Trump then posted an AI-generated image of himself portrayed as a god-like figure, which was quickly taken down.

After the latest outburst Monday, in which Trump claimed Leo was "endangering a lot of Catholics ​by opposing the war," the pope said "if anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully."

"The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt about that," he added.

Can Pope Leo move President Trump on the Iran war?

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Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko