Conservatives Blast Trump For Christ-Like Image, Losing His Mind Over Pope
A wide range of prominent conservatives have criticized President Donald Trump for posting a 334-word tirade on social media Sunday evening against Pope Leo XIV, followed by an image appearing to depict him dressed as Jesus healing a sick man.
The president released the initial speech on Truth Social at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, accusing the first-ever U.S.-born pontiff of being “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” adding, “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela.” » Less than 45 minutes later, he posted a photo, likely AI-generated and with origins dating back to at least February, showing him wearing a robe with a beam of light coming out of one hand and the other placed on the head of a sick man – with a large American flag, two bald eagles and the Statue of Liberty in the background.
A spokesperson for Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the Trump administration, declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Secretary of State spokesman Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, did not immediately respond to DCNF’s request for comment on the matter.
Trump appeared to remove the post Monday morning following widespread criticism. (RELATED: ‘I’m not afraid’: Pope Leo responds to Trump’s biggest attack yet)
“Why? Seriously, I don’t understand why he’s posting this,” women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines wrote on X Monday morning, referring to the image. “Is he looking for an answer? Does he really think that?”
“In any case, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well, 2) God will not be mocked,” she added.
For what? Seriously, I don’t understand why he’s posting this. Is he looking for an answer? Does he really think that?
Regardless, two things are true.
1) a little humility would serve him well
2) God will not be mocked https://t.co/GViHqWeDEr– Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 13, 2026
“I assume someone already told him, but it is incumbent on the president, both spiritually and politically, to remove the photo, regardless of intent,” Daily Wire host Michael Knowles wrote in a Sunday X message sent just before midnight.
Knowles, a prominent conservative Catholic commentator, wrote in a post on the platform an hour earlier: “For all the searing criticism of the Pope’s press statements about the President and the President’s message about the Pope, I don’t think anyone summed it up better than Pope Gelasius in his letter to Emperor Anastasius in 494 AD.” »
For all the blistering criticism of the Pope’s press statements about the President and the President’s message about the Pope, I think no one summed it up better than Pope Gelasius in his letter to Emperor Anastasius in 494 AD:
“The servants of Your Piety, my…
– Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) April 13, 2026
“I pray your Piety not to judge [my] duty to the divine plan as arrogance. Far from the Roman prince, I pray you, let him judge the truth which he feels in his heart as a wound,” reads an excerpt of the long letter published by Knowles.
“This is gross blasphemy. Faith is not an accessory,” wrote young conservative activist Brilyn Hollyhand in a post including a video reacting to the image. “You don’t need to present yourself as a savior when your record should speak for itself. The same God who saved Trump’s life from that bullet sent his son Jesus to die for our sins. He died for Trump just as much as he died for you and me.”
This is blatant blasphemy.
Faith is not an accessory.
You don’t need to present yourself as a savior when your track record should speak for itself.
The same God who saved Trump’s life from that bullet sent his son Jesus to die for our sins.
He died for Trump as much as he died for you and me. pic.twitter.com/0Xl94nzt2A
-Brilyn Hollyhand (@BrilynHollyhand) April 13, 2026
“On Orthodox Easter, President Trump attacked the Pope because the Pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran, and then posted this photo of himself as if he were replacing Jesus,” former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X Sunday night. “This follows last week’s posting of his evil tirade about Easter and then threatening to kill an entire civilization. I completely denounce this and pray against it!!!”
“Oh no,” British right-wing activist Milo Yiannopoulos, a Catholic, wrote on X in response to the provocative image. “We tolerated this kind of meme against our better judgment because it [Trump] promised to save America and only when it became clear that he didn’t actually think he was the Messiah. »
“Why do I feel like Paula White did this to him and us?,” Yiannopoulos added, referring to Protestant pastor Paula White-Cain, a senior adviser to Trump’s White House religious office. “Pray for him [Trump’s] soul. Pray for us all.
“The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social regarding the pope were completely inappropriate and disrespectful,” Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, a prominent Catholic theologian and media personality, said on X Monday morning.
The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social regarding the Pope were completely inappropriate and disrespectful. They don’t contribute to a constructive conversation at all. It is the prerogative of the Pope to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the…
– Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) April 13, 2026
“They do not contribute at all to a constructive conversation. It is the prerogative of the Pope to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern moral life,” he stressed. “As to the practical application of these principles, people of good will can and do disagree. »
“I would heartily recommend that serious Catholics within the Trump administration – Secretary Rubio, Vice President Vance, Ambassador Brian Burch and others – meet with Vatican officials so that a real dialogue can take place,” the bishop added, saying such a conversation would be “far preferable to statements on social media.”
“I am very grateful for the many ways the Trump administration has reached out to Catholics and other people of faith. It has been a great honor to serve on the Commission on Religious Liberty. No president in my lifetime has demonstrated greater dedication to defending our first freedom,” Barron concluded. “That said, I think the president owes the pope an apology.”
“I have no fear of the Trump administration,” the pope told reporters Monday in response to Trump’s unprecedented attacks against him.
President Donald Trump posted online an apparent depiction of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick patient on Sunday evening, hours after sharply criticizing Pope Leo XIV.
The image was uploaded to the president’s account without additional caption, showing him dressed in white and… https://t.co/dzl0m4bw0q pic.twitter.com/oeqy01YpJj
– Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 13, 2026
“I won’t get into a debate. The things I say are certainly not meant to attack anyone,” Leo added. “The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ I will not hesitate to proclaim the message of the Gospel and invite all people to seek ways to build bridges of peace and reconciliation, and to seek ways to avoid war whenever possible.
Trump had written in his lengthy Friday evening message in Truth Social that the pope “talks about the ‘fear’ of the Trump administration, but does not mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church and all other Christian organizations had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers and everyone else, for holding religious services, even when going out, and ten or even twenty feet away.”
“And I don’t want a pope who criticizes the president of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected to do, IN A LANDSLIDE, setting a record crime rate and creating the greatest stock market in history,” the president added.
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