Shortly after criticizing Pope Leo XIV in a lengthy social media post Sunday, President Donald Trump shared an apparently artificial intelligence-generated image depicting him as a Jesus-like figure.

The image, which was posted on the president’s account on his social media platform, Truth Social, shows Trump dressed in white and red robes. In the illustration, the president’s hands emit shining lights, and his right hand is touching the forehead of a man lying on a bed, wearing a hospital gown. The image evokes religious art depicting Jesus healing the sick.

The illustration was posted without commentary, less than an hour after Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV in another post, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” The pope, the first American-born pontiff to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has spoken out against the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, condemning the “absurd and inhuman violence” unleashed by the fighting.

Pope Leo Says He Has ‘no Fear of Trump Administration’

Responding to Trump’s comments, the pope said Monday that he has “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”

In the image posted Sunday, the man in the bed is surrounded by figures looking up at Trump, including a person in a medical uniform with a stethoscope around their neck, a praying woman and a man in a camouflage uniform. The background of the image includes the Statue of Liberty, a building resembling the Lincoln Memorial, fighter jets, eagles, fireworks and a billowing American flag.

Trump has posted a number of apparently AI-generated images of himself on social media over the last year, sometimes drawing significant backlash. In May 2025, after the death of Pope Francis, Trump posted an image of himself as pontiff, drawing criticism, including from Catholics.

In February 2025, Trump posted an image of himself wearing a crown on a magazine cover resembling Time, but called Trump, as he likened himself to a king.

Catholics Comes to Pope’s Defense

Several prominent Catholics came to the pope’s defense after the president’s attack.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

James Joseph Martin Jr., an American Jesuit priest and writer, wrote on social media: “I doubt Pope Leo XIV will lose any sleep over this, before he begins his pilgrimage to Africa tomorrow. But the rest of us should. Because it is unhinged, uncharitable and unchristian. Is there no bottom to this moral squalor?”

Last May, just after Leo’s ascension, the pope’s other brother, John Prevost, told The New York Times in an interview that he did not think his brother would stay silent if he disagreed with Trump’s policies.

“I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration,” he said. “I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”

Trump Takes Down Image

As he received two bags of a McDonald’s food delivery to the Oval Office on Monday morning, Trump told reporters that he did not catch all that religious imagery. He said he had thought the image he had posted to his Truth Social account had depicted him not as Jesus — but as a physician.

“I thought it was me as a doctor,” Trump said of the social media post, which he deleted after an outcry. “Only the fake news could come up with that.”

He added, “I make people better.”

The post’s removal was a rare retreat for Trump.

Trump did not apologize for criticizing Pope Leo, just as he did not apologize for threatening to wipe out the Iranian civilization last week. (“I’m fine with it,” he said of the threat on Fox News on Sunday, because it had brought Iran to the negotiating table.) The post attacking Leo as “weak on crime” remains online and so do countless posts from legions of critics who believe Trump’s mental fitness for office should be evaluated.

(The New York Times’ Katie Rogers contributed to this story.)

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Claire Moses

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