President Donald Trump late Sunday uploaded an apparent depiction of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick patient, hours after sharply criticizing Pope Leo XIV.
The image was uploaded to the President’s account with no additional captions, showing him dressed in a white and red robe while touching the head of a bedridden man. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the image was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The image came shortly after Trump slammed the pope for his “weak” leadership on issues including crime and foreign policy.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump wrote Sunday night.
The president also said that he didn’t “want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States,” and that the pope should be “thankful” to have been elected to the papacy. Trump also lambasted the pope for meeting with David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Barack Obama.
Pope Leo XIV remarked early Monday that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration or any retaliation against the church.
“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo told reporters on a plane heading to Algeria. “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”
The Vatican also issued a rare public rebuke on Friday after a report surfaced suggesting officials from the Trump administration had a “hostile meeting” with a Catholic Church representative. Both sides confirmed a meeting had taken place, but said that it was “substantive, respectful, and professional.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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