Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied that his upcoming trip to the Vatican is an attempt to smooth over tensions with Donald Trump’s administration after the president lashed out at Pope Leo XIV and depicted himself as a Christ-like figure in a widely condemned social media post.
But Rubio appeared to echo the president’s baseless allegations that Pope Leo supports Iran building a nuclear arsenal as the U.S. war with Iran stretches into a ninth week under a tenuous ceasefire.
Asked whether he agrees with the president’s recent claim that the pope’s urgent pleas for peace are endangering Catholics, Rubio told reporters at the White House that the statement is “not an accurate description of what he said.”
“I think what the president basically said is Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it in places where there’s a lot of Catholics and Christians and others, for that matter,” Rubio said Tuesday.
“I think the president — without trying to speak for him — but I think I can characterize it this way. He doesn’t understand why anybody — leave aside the pope — the president, and I, for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
In his latest jab at the Catholic leader, Trump told the host of The Hugh Hewitt Show that the pope “would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
“I don’t think that’s very good,” he said on Sunday’s broadcast with the right-wing media figure.
“I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people, but I guess, if it’s up to the Pope,” he said. “He thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
This is a developing story
