Motoko Rich

Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Rome this week after an unexpected spat between President Trump and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, once one of the president’s best friends in Europe.

The meeting at the Vatican followed President Trump’s condemnation of Pope Leo XIV for opposing the war in Iran.

A year into his papacy, Leo has shown a readiness to challenge Washington, defying any concerns about the election of an American pontiff.

On his recent trip abroad, Leo XIV made some of his most forthright comments since becoming pope last year, but grew uncomfortable at how that criticism was interpreted.

Pope Leo responded directly on Monday to a presidential attack. But since then, he said, some of his statements during his Africa trip have been misconstrued.

After his election last year, Leo XIV developed a reputation as a mild-mannered mediator. President Trump’s attacks have made him more combative.

For days, Pope Leo XIV has attracted criticism from President Trump and his allies for refusing to back the war in Iran. On Thursday, he reiterated his calls for peace.

Catholicism is growing fast on the continent, yet Africans play a comparatively small role in church leadership. Cameroon, which Leo XIV will visit Wednesday, shows the divide.

Plus, the rise of big bagel.

Unlike his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV enjoys growing support from a broad swath of conservative Catholics.

The pontiff will visit four countries on the world’s poorest continent, demonstrating his urgent focus on the most vulnerable members of the Church.

On a four-country tour of the continent, where the faith is growing faster than anywhere else, the pontiff will be greeted by enthusiastic crowds and authoritarian leaders.

In sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is “entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had led one of Italy’s most stable postwar governments. Now she’s under pressure after failing to convince Italians to back a judicial overhaul.

Voting starts Sunday on a referendum to overhaul Italy’s judiciary. Many people don’t understand the complex proposal — and it could hurt Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

War in the Middle East has left Italy’s prime minister in a domestic bind, presenting her with one of the biggest challenges of a previously stable tenure.

Kash Patel’s trip to Italy came at a fraught and frenetic time for the bureau and Mr. Patel, who has shown little willingness to curb his jet-setting.

Amid growing cross-border political animosity, the game meant even more than usual to Canadian fans who had flown in for one of the marquee events of the Winter Games.