Donald Trump reposted on Wednesday an AI-generated image depicting himself with Jesus Christ on his Truth Social account.

• Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself with Jesus Christ on Truth Social, days after deleting a controversial post comparing himself to Jesus.
• The repost included a caption criticising political opponents, reigniting backlash over the image and its religious implications.
• The post comes amid ongoing tensions between Trump and Pope Leo, who has criticised US-Israeli actions in Iran and broader global conflicts.

US President ‌Donald Trump posted an apparently AI-generated image of Jesus embracing him on Wednesday, two days after he deleted a post ‌that prompted criticism that the Republican president ⁠had compared himself to Jesus.

The image, reposted to Trump’s Truth Social account, ⁠shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post had the caption:

Trump’s repost ‌added the caption: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”

Trump has been feuding with Pope Leo, the first US-born leader of the Catholic Church and an outspoken critic of the war that began ‌with US-Israeli strikes ⁠on Iran.

Trump reiterated his criticism of the religious leader on Tuesday night. In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump urged that “someone please tell Pope Leo” about the killings of protesters by Iran and that “for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.”

On Tuesday evening, Vice President JD Vance, speaking at the University of Georgia, said the pope was wrong to say that disciples of Christ are “never on the side of those who once wielded the ⁠sword and today drop bombs” and that “it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

READ | Pope Leo warns of democracies sliding into ‘majoritarian tyranny’ after Trump attack

Leo said in response to Trump’s previous 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 he said were violating international law, without singling out specific countries.

Christian voters have ⁠formed a critical part of Trump’s political base. Trump, who does not ‌attend church regularly, won large ‌majorities of Christian voters in the 2024 election, including Catholics.