{"id":12050,"date":"2026-05-08T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wnp.com.pk\/?p=12050"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:52:11","slug":"rubio-says-u-s-maintaining-productive-ties-with-vatican-despite-differences-over-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/rubio-says-u-s-maintaining-productive-ties-with-vatican-despite-differences-over-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio says U.S. maintaining productive ties with Vatican despite differences over Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON, Friday, May 8, 2026 (WNP): U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States continues to maintain a strong and productive relationship with the Vatican despite policy differences regarding Iran, emphasizing cooperation on humanitarian and global issues.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about his discussions with Vatican officials, Rubio said Washington and the Catholic Church had long worked together on humanitarian initiatives and international affairs, adding that the engagement remained valuable because of the Church\u2019s global presence and influence.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWell, with the Vatican, our relationship\u2026 we\u2019re working together on humanitarian issues. We\u2019re focused on other issues as well,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rubio says U.S. maintaining productive ties with Vatican despite differences over Iran\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BMXUjKrlPaA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He noted that President Donald Trump continued to view Iran as a threat that needed to be addressed, stressing that Washington\u2019s position on Tehran remained unchanged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president\u2019s perspective is clear, that he thinks that Iran is a threat and it needs to be addressed, and that position remains unchanged,\u201d Rubio remarked.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he said the United States could maintain its policy stance while continuing constructive engagement with the Vatican and the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio described the Vatican as an important global actor with deep insights into international developments through its worldwide religious and humanitarian networks.<\/p>\n<p>He said discussions with Church leaders covered various regions, including Africa, the Western Hemisphere, and the Middle East, particularly the situation of Christians in countries such as Lebanon.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think it\u2019s an opportunity to personally express our point of view from the standpoint of foreign policy and the areas we\u2019re involved in and share insights, but also to gain insights, because the Church has a unique role in many of these countries,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rubio added that the Catholic Church had historically served as an important interlocutor not only with governments but also with societies, and in many cases had facilitated U.S. humanitarian assistance around the world, including in Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>He termed the meeting with Vatican officials \u201cvery productive,\u201d saying both sides exchanged views on regions where they maintain active engagement.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary of state also reiterated that U.S. policy decisions would continue to be guided by American national interests while preserving strong relations with the Vatican.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe President of the United States is always going to act in what\u2019s in the best interest of the United States,\u201d Rubio said, adding that Washington could continue to maintain a \u201cproductive, fruitful and important relationship\u201d with the Church because of its significant global role.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rubio says U.S. maintaining productive ties with Vatican despite differences over Iran\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2eFLdtGmiJs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON, Friday, May 8, 2026 (WNP): U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States continues to maintain a strong and productive relationship with the Vatican despite policy differences regarding Iran, emphasizing cooperation on humanitarian and global issues. Speaking about his discussions with Vatican officials, Rubio said Washington and the Catholic Church had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","category-religious-diplomacy","category-usa","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}