Key Facts
- Marco Rubio will travel to Rome this week, a visit reportedly aimed at thawing frosty relations with the Italian government and the Vatican.
- Rubio will be in the Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, which will also mark the one-year anniversary of the papacy of Pope Leo, the first US-born pontiff.
- A foreign ministry source confirmed that Rubio will meet the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, and Antonio Tajani, Italy’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
- Rubio’s trip was announced in a letter to the Italian government from the US ambassador to Rome, Tilman Fertitta, who has been working on rebuilding 'the bridge' between the two countries.
- Rubio's visit was aimed at 'thawing' frosty relations with both Rome and the Vatican, a mission described as 'not impossible, but complicated'.