Rome, Italy - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Rome and the Vatican this week, an Italian government source said Sunday, weeks after President Donald Trump's stinging criticism of Pope Leo XIV.

Italian media reported that Rubio would meet the US pontiff himself on Thursday, but there was no immediate confirmation of this.

Newspapers presented the visit by Rubio – a Catholic – as a meeting to "thaw" relations.

The government source told AFP that Rubio would meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

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The meetings come just weeks after Trump's extraordinary criticism of Pope Leo over the Catholic leader's anti-war rhetoric.

The source said Rubio had asked for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump's closest European allies, whom he turned on after she defended the pope.

Media reports said he was also due to meet Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, amid a deepening rift in transatlantic ties over the Middle East war.

Leo (70) will on Friday mark one year as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, after being elected by cardinals on May 8, 2025, following the death of Pope Francis.

As the first ever pope from the US, his words have arguably carried more weight in Washington than previous pontiffs – and he has used them, criticizing notably the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.