Marco Rubio Gifts Pope Leo Crystal Football During Vatican Visit: ‘I Know You’re a Baseball Guy’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio gifted Pope Leo XIV a crystal football during his highly anticipated visit to the Vatican on Thursday.

Rubio spent approximately two hours at the Vatican, speaking with Pope Leo, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher. 

The meeting, which took place in the Pope’s private library, comes amid rising tensions between the Vatican and President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Pope Leo for his criticisms of the Trump administration’s war with Iran.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to discuss the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,” said Tommy Pigott, spokesman for the State Department, in a statement. “The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.”

At the Vatican, Pope Leo and Rubio, accompanied by his wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, exchanged gifts, with Rubio offering the pope a crystal football.

“I know you’re a baseball guy, but I mean it has the seal of the State Department,” Rubio told the pope. “What to get someone who has everything, I thought, ‘Oh a crystal [football].'”

For his part, Pope Leo gifted Rubio a pen made of olive wood, seemingly intended as a peace offering.

“Olive being of course the plant of peace,” he said as he pointed to the top of the pen. “This is the coat of arms of the pontificate here.”

The Vatican released a statement, originally in Italian, following the talks.

“During the cordial talks that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held this morning at the Vatican, first with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and subsequently with His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin and His Excellency Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America was renewed,” the statement reads. “There was also an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries affected by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian conditions, as well as on the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace.”

Watch above via The Associated Press.

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