Kinsey Crowley
| USA TODAY
President Donald Trump is not backing down from his battle with the Pope, resharing on social media an AI-image that showed him being embraced by Jesus.
The latest post shows Trump with an angelic light and the American flag circling him and the AI Jesus It follows another AI-generated image that he posted – and later took down – earlier in the week, of himself in red and white robes with a light in one hand and blessing a sick man with the other hand. It evoked imagery of Jesus healing the sick and sparked backlash from some in his own party. Trump denied that it depicted him as Jesus.
“I thought it was me as a doctor. And it had to do with Red Cross,” Trump told reporters at the White House on April 13. “And only the fake news could come up with that one … I make people a lot better.”
“The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote with the post, which had its own caption reading: “I was never a very religious man .. but doesn’t it seem , with all these satanic , demonic , child sacrificing monsters being exposed … that God might be playing his Trump card !”
Trump and Vance double down on pope criticism
The first image of Trump “healing” someone was posted shortly after he issued a lengthy criticism of Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo has directly criticized the war in Iran and Trump’s harsh language, like last week’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” Trump called the pope “WEAK on Crime,” and took credit for Leo’s selection to the papacy in an April 12 Truth Social post.
Pope Leo responded to the post on April 13 while talking to reporters, saying, “I have no fear with neither the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, also said the pope should be careful.
“I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said at a Turning Point USA rally. “I like that the pope is an advocate for peace. I think that’s certainly one of his roles. On the other hand, how do you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?”
Trump has pushed forward with talking about Pope Leo in an April 14 Truth Social post.
“Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a nuclear bomb is absolutely unacceptable,” Trump said.
The public jabs from the president have also angered some Catholics, the single largest religious denomination in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center.
Contributing: Phillip M. Bailey, Zac Anderson, Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her onX (Twitter),Threads,Bluesky andTikTok.