On April 9, Pope Leo XIV received David Axelrod, campaign manager and chief advisor to Barack Obama, at the Vatican. Just a few days later, the Pontiff himself and several Catholic Church leaders came out to openly criticize Donald Trump, sparking strong political controversy in the United States
.The meeting was officially confirmed by the Vatican in its hearing schedule, and what initially seemed to be a protocol took on another dimension after the Pope's criticism of Trump for Iran and the appearance of three cardinals in 60 Minutes questioning the president. The sequence fueled suspicion of a strategy driven by the Obama environment to erode the Republican Catholic base and condition the papal visit to
the United States.
Axelrod was Obama's campaign manager and his main political advisor for years, in addition to being one of the most important operators of the Democratic apparatus in the United States. His arrival at the Vatican, in the midst of an extremely sensitive international scene, ignited and threw speculations on
the table.Just days after the meeting, Pope Leo XIV himself came out to openly question Trump for his policy towards Iran, marking a position aligned with the discourse of multilateralism and the criticism of military escalation.








