Trump repents his AI Jesus stunt

Donald Trump posted and then deleted a picture of himself as Jesus Christ during an extraordinary row with the Pope.

The United States president said the leader of the Catholic church was “terrible” and “weak” after the pontiff criticised the American-Israeli war against Iran as inhumane.

Leo, the first US-born pope, said he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would continue to speak the gospel.

In a forceful speech in Algiers, he denounced “neocolonial” world powers violating international law, without naming the US.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Trump posted an AI-generated image that appeared to depict him as Jesus.

‘I thought it was me as a doctor’

The US president later deleted the post, which showed him in a white robe with a hand on a man’s head, claiming that the picture actually depicted him as a Red Cross doctor.

“I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with the Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support,” Trump told reporters outside the Oval Office.

In the image, rendered like a painting, Mr Trump held ‌a glowing orb in one hand and touched a sick man’s forehead with the other, emitting beams of light. The Statue of Liberty, fireworks, a fighter jet, angels and eagles soared in the background.

He later said he believed the image had been made by a “very beautiful, talented artist”.

Discussing why he deleted it, he told CBS News: “Normally I don’t like doing that, but I didn’t want to have anybody be confused. People were confused.”

In a separate post on Truth Social, Mr Trump wrote: “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use common sense, stop catering to the radical Left, and focus on being a great Pope, not a politician.

“It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

He added: “Pope Leo is WEAK on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.”

The Christ-like image and Mr Trump’s remarks drew widespread condemnation from some of his biggest supporters, including Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister.

“I find President Trump’s words towards the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war,” she said in a rare rebuke of the president.

American Catholic leaders criticised Mr Trump’s remarks, with Paul S Coakley, the Archbishop of Oklahoma City, saying he was “disheartened that the president chose to write such disparaging words”.

Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, also rebuked Mr Trump, saying: “His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, I condemn the insult to your excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person. I wish you glory by Allah.”

The US is home to approximately 60 million Catholics, who make up roughly 20 per cent of the adult American population.

Mr Trump won large majorities of Christian voters in the 2024 election. He made gains among Catholic voters and has sought to lean into the Christian vote throughout his second term.

After he narrowly survived ⁠an assassination attempt in July 2024, the president repeatedly suggested he survived thanks to divine intervention.

In a speech two weeks before the 2024 election, he said: “I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before.”

Monday’s remarks could create a rift between the president, the religious Right of his supporter base and Catholic members of his own administration, including JD Vance, the US vice-president, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.

Despite the condemnation, Mr Trump refused to apologise on Monday. Asked by a reporter if he would say sorry to the Pope, the president said: “No, because Pope Leo said things that were wrong, he was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran. He’s weak on crime. He went public. I’m just responding to Pope Leo. There’s nothing to apologise for.”

Mr Trump later added that the pontiff should avoid getting involved in politics.

“He’s wrong on the issues,” he told CBS News. “I don’t think he should be getting into politics. I think he probably learned that from this.”

Asked whether the Pope would visit the US during his presidency, Mr Trump said: “It’s up to him, not up to me.”

Mr Vance, who identifies as a Catholic, also told the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality” on Monday.

He told Fox News: “I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality... and let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”

After failing to secure a permanent ceasefire deal with Iran over the weekend, Mr Trump imposed a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz from 3pm on Monday, in an effort to choke Iran’s economic lifeline.

Mr Trump warned that it would “not be pleasant” for Iran if the two sides failed to strike an agreement before the two-week ceasefire expired next week. Iran condemned the blockade as “piracy”.

Negotiations to end the war collapsed as Iran refused to give up its nuclear programme or remove nearly 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the material needed to build a nuclear bomb, from the country.

After the White House threatened to capture any vessels that approached its blockade, an Iranian armed forces spokesperson said: “The criminal actions of America in restricting maritime transit in international waters are illegal and constitute piracy.”

Starmer and Macron refuse to join blockade

After refusing to join Mr Trump’s blockade, Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, announced Britain and France would lead a conference in the coming days discussing a “peaceful multinational missionaimed at restoring freedom of navigation”.

The Prime Minister also said Mr Trump was “wrong” to threaten to destroy “a whole civilisation” in Iran in comments last week before the two-week ceasefire was announced.

On Monday, David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, met with Mr Vance and Mr Rubio in Washington to discuss the war and reopening the strait.

In recent weeks, the Pope has become one of the most prominent critics of the war in Iran, even making an unusual direct appeal to Mr Trump to find an “off-ramp”.

“I have no fear of the Trump administration,” he said on board the papal plane as he departed for a four-nation visit to Africa, insisting he was not directly criticising the US president by calling for peace in the Middle East.

“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the gospel is very clear: Blessed are the peacemakers,” he added.

“I will continue to speak out ‌loudly against war, looking ⁠to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states ⁠to look for just solutions to problems.”

In recent comments, the Pope said that Jesus could not 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 Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, who likened the rescue of a US airman inside Iran to the resurrection ⁠of Christ on Easter Sunday.

It is not the first time Mr Trump has criticised the Catholic Church. During his first term, he clashed with Pope Francis, who publicly opposed Mr Trump’s deportation campaign and said the construction of the border wall was un-Christian.

Last year, after the death of Francis, Mr Trump posted an image showing himself as pope, prompting outrage from many Catholics.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]