Donald Trump has shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, after calling Pope Leo “terrible” in an unprecedented attack on the leader of the Catholic Church. 

In the image, the US President appears in red and white robes. His outstretched hand is healing a sick man, dressed in hospital clothes and laying in a bed. Rays of light come out of his hands. 

An American flag flutters over President Trump’s shoulder, who is surrounded by two men in military camouflage, a nurse, and a praying woman. Eagles and fighter jets fly by. Depictions of what appear to be fighter pilots are ascending in the sky, where angels may typically be in a scene. 

Posted on his Truth Social platform, it came as the President commented “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”. Doubling down, in a later post he said: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

The first American Pope has been critical of the Iran war and the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies and enforcement. 

Austen Ivereigh, Catholic commentator and Pope Francis biographer, told Premier Christian News it was a “remarkable” intervention by Trump, which could lead to “the end” of him as President.

“He's now crossed the line. This is a deeply unpopular war, but I think what he's doing now is tipping into a level of messianism and narcissism, which I think everybody is now recognizing as deeply troubling”.  

“The job of the Pope is, in a sense, to defend the integrity of the Gospel against those who would choose to instrumentalise it”.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was “disheartened” by President Trump's comments. 

“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,” he said in a statement. 

In 2025, President Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the Pope, days after the death of Pope Francis.