David Axelrod trying to tamp down speculation after meeting the pope
David Axelrod, a senior advisor to former president Barack Obama, put out a statement on X quelling rumors that a Thursday meeting between himself and Pope Leo XIV was a precursor to a potential Leo-Obama summit.
"To be clear, I was gratified and honored that Pope Leo XIV granted my request for an audience and thrilled to spend a some time with him last week," Axelrod wrote.
"It was scheduled months ago and unrelated to any prospective meeting with President Obama," his Tuesday post concluded.
Despite the statement, Obama has been open about his desire to meet with Pope Leo. Obama-Biden White House alum Christopher Hale posted on X that there are "early talks" about a potential one-on-one.
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Axelrod, now a CNN analyst, was responding to a video from his own network in which conservative commentator Hal Lambert accused Pope Leo's recent criticisms of President Donald Trump and the war in Iran of being politically motivated.
"David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week. They're talking about Obama going to visit. Pope Leo is from Chicago. All of a sudden, now Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel," Lambert said during a CNN panel show.
"Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama. The pope was saying he's not political. Why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama's campaign and in the White House?" Lambert asked.
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In addition to being a senior advisor to Obama in the White House, Axelrod was also the chief strategist for both Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns and was widely seen as the brains behind his successful runs.
The veteran politico met with Pope Leo on April 9. The pope's criticism's of Trump's military actions predate the meeting. He's been critical of both military actions in Venezuela and in Iran, telling a Palm Sunday Mass in March that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war."
But one day after his meeting with Axelrod, Pope Leo wrote what appeared to be a direct rebuke to the administration.
"God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Pope Leo wrote in an April 10 post on X.
"Military action will not create space for freedom or times of Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples," he concluded.
The post, which has been followed with at least 10 direct or indirect references to war and peace in the five days since, came days after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke of the rescue mission to save a downed airman in Iran.
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"Shot down on a Friday — Good Friday — hidden in a cave — a crevice — all of Saturday and rescued on Sunday," Hegseth said. "Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn. All home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing. God is good," Hegseth said in an April 6 press conference.
Trump responded to comments from Pope Leo, calling him "weak on crime and "terrible for foreign policy," in a post on Truth Social.
"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church," Trump also wrote.
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The heightened rhetoric has contributed to an atmosphere that many are increasingly viewing as political.
"It’s not about when it was scheduled. It’s about why? David Axelrod is a powerful Democrat political strategist. That’s his job for the past 30 years. Millions of people would like a private audience with the pope, but he is meeting with a powerful strategist for the opposition party to President Trump," Lambert told Fox News Digital.
"This is all about the midterms and trying to turn Catholics against President Trump and Republicans," Lambert concluded.
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Besides incurring the pope's ire, Trump has also irked Christians across the board after posting an AI-generated image of himself on Truth Social that many viewed as depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
Trump deleted the photo and denied the charge, claiming he thought the photo was depicting him as a doctor.
"I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross… which we support, and only the fake news could come up with that one," Trump told reporters.
"As a Chicagoan, I've been eager to meet Pope Leo from the moment he stepped out on the balcony," Axelrod told Fox News Digital.
"My admiration for him as a great moral leader has only grown since. The audience, which I requested, was scheduled months ago. No one sent me and the only mission I was on was to visit with him and pay my respects," he concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Vatican and an Obama representative for comment but did not immediately receive a response.