US President Donald Trump is facing growing backlash after posting an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure and launching a series of social media attacks on Pope Leo XIV, drawing criticism from across the Christian political spectrum. The image, shared on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Sunday and deleted on Monday, showed him in a white robe placing a hand on a man’s head in a scene resembling a healing. It was posted after a separate message in which Trump criticised the pope, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”.
Later, Trump told reporters that, though he had posted the image, he thought it depicted him “as a doctor”. And only the fake news could come up with that one,” he said. He also said he does not “want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States”.
Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.” Tensions between the White House and the Vatican have been building for months, particularly over the US administration’s hardline immigration policies, its military actions, and the US-Israel war on Iran. Senior Catholic leaders in the US also pushed back against Trump’s remarks on the pope.
Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician,” Archbishop Paul S Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. In Las Vegas, Archbishop George Leo Thomas said he was “grateful to God for sending us Pope Leo XIV, who is willing to speak truth to power just when we need him the most”. Internationally, Trump’s remarks have also drawn condemnation.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the US president’s attack on Pope Leo was “unacceptable”. The pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war,” she said in a statement. The backlash was not limited to church leaders, with several conservative figures also criticising Trump’s posts, particularly the AI-generated image.
Brilyn Hollyhand, a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, wrote on X: “This is gross blasphemy. You don’t need to portray yourself as a saviour when your record should speak for itself.” Riley Gaines, a FOX News host, a former collegiate swimmer and outspoken critic of transgender athletes in women’s sports who has appeared with Trump at rallies, also questioned the post. She demanded Trump “take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God”.
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