On Sunday, April 12th, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to post an AI-generated picture that depicted him as Jesus. This comes in the midst of a feud between the President and Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, has expressed discontent with the war in Iran, saying “Contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war always,” to a group of journalists at the Castel Gandolfo. Donald Trump fired back at this comment on social media with a lengthy post saying, “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” That same day, Donald Trump’s post, he posted the infamous AI photo of himself as Jesus. After the post went up, the President received heavy criticism and backlash from Catholics.
The Trump Administration campaigned on Catholic ideologies and won over the majority of Catholic voters. Since his victory in the 2024 election, which was largely helped by his Catholic and Christian backing, he has proclaimed himself to be a man of God, which further raised support amongst these religious groups. However, as the conflict in Iran continues to escalate, support for the Trump Administration amongst Catholics has lowered, as many disapprove of the United States’ involvement in the Middle East.
The President’s post of himself as Jesus on Truth Social, along with his attacks on Pope Leo XIV, only made him lose more support amongst Catholics.
The President on Monday, April 13th, deleted his post of the AI-generated picture. He denied that it had anything to do with religion at all, saying to reporters at the White House that he “thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with the Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support.” The President admitted that he was the one who posted the image on his social media account, but claims that he is not Jesus in the picture, but a doctor. He follows up this claim by saying those who say that the image shows the President as Jesus, and not a doctor, are spreading false information, and that “fake news” is twisting the story.
It is relatively rare to see Donald Trump deleting something from his Truth Social page, but due to the large criticism and disapproval he received from his supporters, it is unsurprising. However, despite his deletion and attempts at damage control, many of his supporters remain angry at his actions online as the Administration’s approval ratings amongst Catholics continue to decline.