Pope Leo and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio jointly committed at a meeting on Thursday to improving relations between the Vatican and Washington, at a time when President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the pontiff.

Leo and Rubio “renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations,” the Vatican said in a statement after the first meeting between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, amid an atmosphere of tension with Washington.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, drew Trump’s ire after becoming a firm critic of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies.

Trump has kept up an unprecedented series of public attacks on the pope in recent weeks, drawing a backlash from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.

Rubio’s meeting with Leo is a sign of a “strong” relationship between the Vatican and the U.S., State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

Rubio spent 2-1/2 hours at the Vatican before driving away in a convoy under tight security. He also met with senior Vatican officials, including top diplomat Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The U.S. embassy to the Holy See said on X that Leo and Rubio had discussed “topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere”.

The Vatican statement said the two had “exchanged views” on the world situation and spoke about “the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace.”

‘Plant of Peace’

The meeting appeared to have run longer than planned. The pope arrived 40 minutes late for a subsequent meeting with Vatican staffers and thanked them for being patient.

Vatican video from the beginning of the closed-door encounter showed Leo shaking hands with his guest and addressing him formally as “Mr. Secretary”, to which Rubio, a Catholic, responded: “Great to see you.”

Rubio was also seen giving the pope a small crystal football. He joked that he knew that Leo, originally from Chicago and known as a fan of the White Sox, was more of a “baseball guy”.

Leo gave Rubio a small pen made from wood from an olive tree, which he called “the plant of peace”.

Rubio had told a White House briefing on Tuesday he expected to discuss Cuba and concerns over religious freedom around the world with Leo. The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, said, also on Tuesday, that the conversation between the pope and Rubio was likely to be “frank”.

In his public criticism of the pope, Trump on Monday falsely suggested that Leo believed it was okay for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and that he was “endangering a lot of Catholics” by opposing the war.

Leo told journalists after the latest attack that he was spreading the Christian message of peace. The pope also firmly rejected the idea that he supported nuclear weapons, which the Catholic Church teaches are ​immoral.

As Rubio arrived at the Vatican earlier on Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was leaving from a meeting with Leo. He told journalists he and the pope discussed how to strengthen international cooperation and generate hope in the world.

“It is still possible that the world does not have to descend into chaos, if good people, people of goodwill, find one another and act in unity,” Tusk said, speaking in Polish.

Leo Has Grown More Outspoken

Leo, who on Friday marks his first year leading the 1.4-billion-member Church, has grown more outspoken on the world stage in recent weeks.

During a four-nation African tour last month he forcefully decried the direction of global leadership and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in comments he later said were not aimed directly at Trump.

Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, who is also a Catholic, met Leo a year ago after attending the pope’s inaugural mass. Trump has not met the pontiff.

During his two-day visit to Rome, Rubio is due to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has defended the pope from Trump, on Friday. Meloni’s defense minister has said the war in Iran puts U.S. leadership at risk.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Alex Richardson, Crispian Balmer and Gareth Jones)