Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Rubio Meets with Pope Leo Amid Growing Tensions with Vatican; Vatican: Pope and Rubio Discussed War, Political Tensions; Iran Expected to Respond to U.S. Proposal Today; South Carolina Mom Named 2026 Military Spouse of the Year. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: ... between President Trump and the Pope. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The Vatican is sharing details from today's private meeting between Pope Leo and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

[15:35:00]

A statement from the Holy See reads in part, quote, "During the cordial discussions, the shared commitment to cultivate good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America was renewed. There was then an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries marked by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as on the need to work tirelessly for peace."

The meeting comes as relations between the Vatican and the Trump administration are extraordinarily tense. Pope Leo has criticized President Trump's immigration policy and war with Iran, and President Trump has accused the first American Pope of hurting Catholicism and being OK with Iran having a nuclear weapon.

Let's discuss with Father Thomas Massaro. He's a professor of moral theology at Fordham University. Father, thanks so much for being with us.

What did you make of the readout from today's meeting?

FATHER THOMAS MASSARO, PROFESSOR OF MORAL THEOLOGY, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: Yes, Boris, I think this is a very constructive day after a number, probably two months of unconstructive days in the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church locally and worldwide on one hand, and the Trump administration on the other. I see Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a very experienced diplomat. He was in the Senate for years on the Foreign Relations Committee.

He knows how to talk to people. Being a Roman Catholic himself is a pretty good thing. And from the early reports, they agree. They said all the right things, and those meetings continue today. SANCHEZ: I wonder, Father, if you think that means there are fewer unconstructive, as you put it, days ahead. Do you anticipate we're going to see more back and forth between Trump and the Pope?

MASSARO: Yes, it is possible that President Trump will once again wake up in the middle of the night and, I don't know, go on Truth Social and accuse the pope of being soft on crime. That wouldn't defy my understanding of why he said that. It's possible.

But the other parties around President Trump, so I am thinking of Marco Rubio and there's others, and, of course, the United States bishops and the cardinals and archbishops, many of whom have spoken out very reasonably. I just have a confidence, certainly a hope, that the cooler heads will prevail and we'll get to be talking about the right issues, not just the flare-ups, which have left me exasperated with the rhetoric that was exchanged, especially on the part of President Trump.

SANCHEZ: A Vatican spokesperson confirmed the Pontiff and Rubio discussed the situation in Cuba, noting that the Trump administration had distributed millions in humanitarian aid on the island through the church. How do you see the Vatican's role as an intermediary between those two countries?

MASSARO: Well, the Vatican has long been an intermediary throughout Latin America, between North America, the United States. Some people may remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, October of 1962. We have a lot of archival evidence, some still hidden, that Pope John XXIII was an important dialogue partner, go-between offering the good offices of the Vatican to end that. That's the closest we've ever come to a nuclear war.

So there's a long tradition of papal assistance, most recently, by the way, in the country of Colombia, where the rebels, I think they were called FARC, there was a negotiation with the government, and there was a resolution under Pope Francis, and all sides said, without the papacy, this resolution, the end of this rebel war, would never have happened. So we took a victory lap in 2019 on that one.

SANCHEZ: It's hard to believe, Father, that tomorrow is going to mark a year since Leo was elected Pope. How would you assess his first year, obviously the first American Pope, and how is it different and similar to what we saw from his predecessor, Pope Francis?

MASSARO: Yes, well, I would say enormously successful, and you're right, Boris, to put the emphasis on a little bit of contrast of style. Sure, Pope Leo was a little more deliberate. He was called the quiet American for a few months, but now he's coming out of his shell.

There's so much work to do for a new Pope, building up his cabinet. He's still working on appointing officials. But at the same time, I do believe that there's a great deal of substantial continuity in the policies of these two successive Popes.

And just to tick off a list, they both care greatly about the environment. They both care greatly about regulating artificial intelligence. They both care extremely strongly in bringing about peace and being the voice of restraint for those countries that might start wars or keep wars going.

Lots of continuity between our Argentinian Jesuit Pope from 2013 to 2025 and now our new American Augustinian order Pope, Pope Leo XIV.

SANCHEZ: The Vatican has said that there's not going to be a papal visit to the U.S. this year, in part because of November's midterm elections. Do you think the Pope will visit before Trump leaves office in January of 2029?

MASSARO: I would say it's about a 50-50 call.

[15:40:00]

All recent Popes have desired and most have to visit the United Nations. Remember the opening of the General Assembly every year is in September. So on September 25th, his first year in office -- it was his second year, 2015, Pope Francis came to the U.N. and addressed the General Assembly. I am sure that Pope Leo wants to do that, not to mention visiting his home city of Chicago. But you are correct. The elections complicate things.

Maybe there's some other diplomatic reasons to delay that. But I would say there's a good chance, at least a 50 percent chance, that he will be in the United States in the next three or four years.

SANCHEZ: Father Thomas Massaro, we'll leave the conversation there. I appreciate the time.

MASSARO: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

So, ahead, Iran is keeping the world waiting when it comes to that new peace plan from President Trump. We're live at the White House with the latest when we come back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're keeping a close eye on the White House right now, where the Trump administration is standing by for Iran's response to a peace proposal that could end the war. Iran says that any reply would come through Pakistan, a key mediator.

Let's go live to the White House to get more from these behind-the- scenes diplomatic efforts with CNN senior White House reporter Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what's the latest you've heard?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right now they are still waiting for this response. Again, as you noted, it would come through the Pakistanis who have served as negotiators on all of this. But when we're talking to White House officials, U.S. officials, they are cautiously optimistic, and they really have been for the last 48 hours. It seems to be that they've turned a new page. They're hearing from these negotiators that Iran is going to come back with something positive.

But, of course, the question being, what's positive to Iran, is that actually what's positive to the United States? Now, we had reported that they were working towards a memorandum that would end the war. And you have it up here next to me.

It would declare an end to the war but then open up a negotiating period of 30 days to go through some of the stickier points. That would include the fate of Iran's nuclear program, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and future security of the Strait. The other big issue here, of course, is going to be about enriched uranium.

Two parts. One, what to do with the enriched uranium that Iran currently has. President Trump has suggested shipping it to the United States, which Iran has said is a firm red line. They're not going to do it.

The other is this moratorium on actually enriching uranium in the future. Originally, the U.S. had proposed a moratorium. Iran could not enrich uranium for 20 years. Iran came back with five years. So it's unclear where they were going to land here.

And both sides were very hesitant to move even an inch on that. But, again, talking to our sources inside of the White House, they are feeling good about the prospect of getting to a deal at some point soon.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live for us at the White House, thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Global tensions abroad not only place demands on U.S. service members who are deployed overseas, but also on military families here at home. Spouses are left to navigate the uncertainty that comes with deployments and long separations. One Marine Corps spouse is working to ensure that these families are supported.

Her name is Shelby Bateman, and she is based at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, and she was just honored as the 2026 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year, which is quite a high honor in the military spouse community. And Shelby Bateman is joining us now. Congratulations.

SHELBY BATEMAN, 2026 ARMED FORCES INSURANCE MILITARY SPOUSE OF THE YEAR: Thank you.

KEILAR: This is a really big deal, and it's so well-deserved. And I think it's such an important time to talk about one of the things that you're doing, which is building support networks for military spouses who are just navigating all of the ups and downs of military family life.

It's really a family business, military service. Tell us about these networks. BATEMAN: Yes, yes, yes. So I actually volunteer with a few organizations. There is Stronghold Food Pantry. That's for those that are in the military, active, that are facing food insecurities.

I also volunteer with the Family Readiness Program, so that's going to bridge the gap between families and the leadership of the battalions that they're in. So just really being that connector to be able to build the confidence in those families to feel that they're supported and build the community.

KEILAR: And just to give people a sense of where your family is based, you are at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island in South Carolina. That's where some of the nation's newest Marines are actually preparing for their service. And I wonder what is on the mind of spouses and also the families of folks in your community at a time where you have so many troops and so many Marines who are currently deployed.

BATEMAN: Yes, they're doing great. So being on the depot is actually one of the best places that we've been at this point because my husband volunteered to go there. So making Marines has kind of been the mission across the entire base.

When you have the recruits come in as the MCCS, which is Marine Corps Family and Team Building, they support the recruits on that side. But with the Family Readiness side, we support the permanent personnel. So with everything that's happening, we have that opportunity to support on all aspects new Marines and permanent personnel in the mission of making Marines so when it does come time that we're there to support everybody on the back home side.

KEILAR: Yes, it's so timely right now.

[15:50:00]

And you mentioned the Stronghold Food Pantry. When I talk to people who are not military connected, they're really surprised by how many people in the military, families in the military, including with small children, actually face food insecurity. Can you talk a little bit more about how that affects military families and also the readiness for the military?

BATEMAN: Yes, for sure. So what I actually just learned when I started volunteering with Stronghold is food insecurity is just those little things like choosing to skip a meal, cutting down on it. It's not that we're starving and we don't have food.

It's just taking those steps to stretch out the food that we have. So having that be a less stress is definitely something that's going to be there to support those families because it is a hard time to where if you're thinking about not having food, then you can't keep your eye ready on the mission.

KEILAR: Yes, and it's the grownups, it's the parents who are going to forego those meals. We know that. As I mentioned, the vast majority of Americans, they don't serve in the military. They may not be military connected.

What do you want them to know? What do you think maybe is a blind spot or just something that they should know about the military community?

Especially right now, we talk a lot about the movement of forces. Behind every service member out there right now is a family. It's like a big circle of people behind them.

What do you want people to know?

BATEMAN: Yes, I would say just realizing that each move is something. So every time we move, we have to reconnect, realign. Everything is always different.

So we can be in for a really long time. We can be just starting in our Marine Corps career. And it's something to just think that every time we shift, there's new leadership, there's new locations, there's new hobbies. Everything is just always a restart.

KEILAR: And how can they help to be maybe a good neighbor? Or, you know, if they find out in their kid's school that a family has moved in, what's a good way to kind of maybe make a connection?

BATEMAN: Just being that person. Giving the phone call, checking in. There's a lot of military spouses that do try to be the strong person of their home because 9 times out of 10, they are the ones doing it.

So just being that support system, like, hey, how's it going? Do you need anything? Mostly we're going to say no but just knowing we have someone that when it gets to that, like, OK, I need help now. Having that person is great.

KEILAR: Especially in an emergency.

BATEMAN: Yes, ma'am.

KEILAR: Shelby Bateman, congratulations, and thank you so much for spending a little time with us.

BATEMAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Appreciate it.

BATEMAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: So why Whirlpool is seeing signs of a possible recession right now in the buying habits of Americans. This is really interesting. We'll have that next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have approved a new congressional map that splits up a majority black district in Memphis.

The change aims to help the GOP hold on to its slim majority in the House of Representatives when voters head to the polls in the midterms in November. Tennessee is the first state to pass new redistricting lines since last week's Supreme Court ruling weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act.

And shares of Whirlpool are down sharply after the appliance maker said it lost money in the latest three months, blaming the war with Iran for a recession-level industry decline. The Michigan-based company says Americans are being a bit more cautious about their spending overall and making fewer large purchases shying away from its higher-end products. It's also warning that it will have to raise prices on its refrigerators and washing machines.

SANCHEZ: And the Trump administration will now classify Antifa and other left-wing networks as major terror groups along with cartels and Islamist extremists. The White House made the designation today in its new counterterrorism plan. It says the U.S. will target violent political groups whose, quote, ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist. In recent months, the administration has ramped up rhetoric around investigating and prosecuting people it believes belong to groups like Antifa, though its top law enforcement officials have struggled to answer basic questions about its size, location, and other details.

This Sunday is the series finale of "EVA LONGORIA SEARCHING FOR FRANCE," and this week she finds out why seven is the magic number for fine dining and why the best butter in the world comes from the Northwest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the haute couture room.

EVA LONGORIA, EVA LONGORIA, SEARCHING FOR FRANCE: Why do you call it that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All we produce is for a specific order.

LONGORIA: All of them are working on somebody's order.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.

LONGORIA: For restaurants, chefs?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

LONGORIA (voice-over): It's half workshop, half wonderland, a place where butter is kneaded like dough, shaped like clay, and gleams like treasure. Each golden nugget is stamped and sealed before being sent to the world's best chefs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: this is the stamp that we made specifically for Virginie's restaurant.

LONGORIA: Oh, this has your name on it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. Let me show you.

LONGORIA: Oh, these are all the stamps. This is amazing. Here's Alain Ducasse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LONGORIA: Orient Express. Well, I definitely want my own stamp now. You know what I find so beautiful about what you do here is each step is so special. I've never seen anything like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Can't argue with that. Join CNN for the series finale of "EVA LONGORIA SEARCHING FOR FRANCE" this Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific and next day on the CNN app.

I had a neighbor give me a brick of butter once.

SANCHEZ: A brick?

KEILAR: Yes, it's like one of the best gifts I've ever received.

SANCHEZ: That's amazing.

KEILAR: Right?

SANCHEZ: Gosh.

KEILAR: Can't beat that.

[16:00:00]

SANCHEZ: What are we going to do for the next 10 seconds?

KEILAR: I'm going to dream of butter.

SANCHEZ: Talk about butter.

KEILAR: Butter with my name on it? Butter with some herbs in it? Compound butter, they call that.

SANCHEZ: I like those cone butters. What do you do with the cone?

KEILAR: I don't know, you just eat it.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END