Rubio’s private audience with the pope, at 11:30am (5:30pm, Singapore time) Thursday, comes the day before Leo marks one year as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Christians across the world spoke out in support of Pope Leo after Trump’s outbursts, which analysts say could hurt the US president politically.
Even before the clash, polls conducted in March and April showed growing disapproval of Trump among American Catholics, a warning sign after he won a majority of Catholic voters in the 2024 election.
Cuba is another likely topic of discussion in the talks at the Vatican.
The Holy See has long played an active role in diplomacy on Cuba, where Rubio – a Cuban-American – has been leading the Trump administration’s efforts to pile pressure on the communist government.
Rubio requested the meeting with Meloni, an Italian government source told AFP on Sunday. That is scheduled for Friday morning.
The far-right Italian leader has been one of Trump’s closest European allies, but the president criticised her as lacking courage after she defended the pope.
Trump has also threatened to pull US troops from Italy, saying Rome “has not been of any help to us” in the Iran war.
The pope and Rubio previously met at the Vatican with US Vice President JD Vance just days after Leo’s election.