The post on Trump’s Truth Social platform, came amid his escalating feud with Pope Leo, who has criticised the war that started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran as inhumane. Shortly before publishing the image, the president posted a lengthy screed against Pope Leo calling him “WEAK on crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
Leo said in response to Trump’s attacks that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would continue to speak out. In a forceful speech on Monday in Algiers, he denounced “neocolonial” world powers who are violating international law, without specifically referring to the United States.
Sunday’s post, depicted Trump in a white robe. In the painting-like image, he holds a glowing orb in one hand and uses his other hand to touch a seemingly sick man on the forehead. The Statue of Liberty, fireworks, a fighter jet and eagles could be seen in the background.
Trump denied on Monday that the image was intended to show him as a Jesus-like figure.
"It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better, and I do make people better," he told reporters at the White House, soon after the post was deleted.
Brendan McMahon, an art history professor at the University of Michigan, found that explanation "highly suspicious" given that the image depicts another figure in scrubs, and because Trump is depicted bathed in a bright light used to signify the divine in countless works of religious art through various centuries. Light also emanates from Trump's hands in the image.
"It's borrowing from this long tradition of Christian imagery with Christ as healer," McMahon said. "Style-wise, it seems like it's gesturing towards social realism of the interwar period in the States, like WPA murals, imagery about enfranchising working-class Americans."
Brilyn Hollyhand, who served as the co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council, had a sharper critique, writing on X: “This is gross blasphemy. Faith is not a prop. You don’t need to portray yourself as a savior when your record should speak for itself.”
Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer and outspoken critic of transgender athletes in women’s sports who has appeared with Trump at rallies, wrote on X she could not understand why Trump posted the image.
“Does he actually think this?” she wrote. “Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.”
Christian voters, including Catholics, have formed a critical part of Trump's political base. After Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July 2024, some evangelical supporters said it was evidence he had been blessed by God.
David Gibson, the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, said it was difficult to understand Trump's motive in attacking Leo and for posting the image, but that it was also hard to say whether American Catholics would turn against him.
"Will this move cross a red line for them? Will they finally punish Trump and the GOP at the ballot box?" he said. "This is a watershed moment - will Catholics in America choose the pope or the president?”
Bishop Robert Barron, who serves on a Trump-created religious liberty commission, said on X that the president owed Leo an apology for his "inappropriate" statements on social media. But he also praised Trump in the same post for his outreach to Catholics.
Trump told reporters on Monday he had "nothing to apologise for" to the pope.
In recent weeks, Leo has become one of the most prominent critics of the war in Iran, even making an unusual direct appeal to Trump and urging him to find an “off-ramp.”
Leo has also said that Jesus cannot be used to justify war and that God rejects the prayers of those who start conflicts. Those remarks were widely seen as a rebuke to Trump officials like U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has cited scripture to justify the use of "overwhelming violence" against enemies and likened the rescue of a U.S. airman inside Iran to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Trump also feuded at times with Leo’s predecessor, Francis, who publicly opposed Trump’s deportation campaign as un-Christian. Last year, after Francis' death, Trump posted an image showing himself as pope, prompting outrage from many Catholics.
"American presidents and American Catholics have disagreed with popes in the past," Gibson said. "But this is disrespect. Disrespect is way different than disagreement, and that’s the danger for Trump here."
At least eight members of Trump's cabinet are Catholic, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Vance, speaking to Fox News Channel's Special Report with Bret Baier, played down the Jesus-like image, saying Trump made it jokingly. Vance added it was sometimes better for the "Vatican to stick to matters of morality."