Donald Trump dramatically escalates his feud with Pope Leo, posts bizarre AI-generated image of himselfFirst he unleashed a furious tirade against Pope Leo on social media. Then Donald Trump, seemingly still angry, decided to get a bit weirder.Samuel Clench and Brielle Burns4 min readApril 13, 2026 - 5:14PMDonald Trump’s feud with the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, might be getting out of hand. It is, at the very least, getting weird.The US President followed up a long and furious tirade against Leo on social media today by posting an AI-generated image of himself seemingly in the guise of Jesus Christ.Mr Trump is angry with the Pope, whom he has labelled “WEAK”, for speaking out against the Iran War.Mr Trump speaking to the media after disembarking from Air Force One today. Picture: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/APPope Leo. Picture: Antonio Masiello/Getty ImagesThe image features Mr Trump, who is wearing robes, touching the forehead of a medical patient with glowing hands, as though miraculously healing him.A nurse and soldier watch from the bedside. There are a few elements in the background: the Statue of Liberty with fireworks and war planes overhead; an American flag with a bald eagle flying in front of it; and a group of dead servicemen, who appear to have become angels.Mr Trump posted it without comment.It’s reminiscent of the time Mr Trump published an image, also AI-generated, of himself dressed up as the Pope.Mr Trump posted this image on social media, sans caption.A different AI-generated image Mr Trump previously shared, showing himself as the Pope.Leo has criticised Mr Trump repeatedly in recent weeks.For example, he labelled Mr Trump’s warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight”, issued shortly before the President agreed to a two-week ceasefire, “unacceptable”.“This is truly unacceptable,” the Pope said of the threat, while calling for the United States, Iran and Israel to “come back to the table” and negotiate.Over this past weekend, while praying for peace in St Peter’s Basilica, he warned against the “delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable”. That was seen as an allusion to Mr Trump’s use of the American military.“Even the holy name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”That was interpreted as a dig at America’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who has repeatedly used religious language while discussing the war and suggested it is being conducted “in the name of Jesus Christ”.“Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” said Leo.“Death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol, to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee.”President Trump. Picture: Nathan Howard/Getty Images via AFPMr Trump clearly did not appreciate the Pope’s commentary.“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, a bit before sharing the AI-generated image.“He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organisations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart.“I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.“And I don’t want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.”Mr Trump in fact campaigned, in 2024, as an anti-war candidate, for what it’s worth, promising not to get the US mired in more “endless” wars in the Middle East.His post went on for some time longer, concluding with a call for Leo to “focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician” because “it’s hurting him very badly”.Mr Trump then added to his remarks, repeating some of the same points, after disembarking from Air Force One in the evening.“Why did you attack Pope Leo?” a reporter asked him.“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job,” Mr Trump said.“He likes crime, I guess. Think of it. He’s worried about fear. What about the fear when the ministers and the priests and all of those people that were arrested during Covid. And in many cases they’re outside, 10 feet apart, and they were arrested.“So we don’t like it. We don’t like a Pope who’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a Pope that says crime is OK in our cities,” said Mr Trump.“I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime. He’s a man that doesn’t think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.“So I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”Read related topics:Donald TrumpMore related storiesUS PoliticsWorld reels after Trump posts ‘terrible’ videoDonald Trump has shared shocking footage of the alleged violent murder of an innocent woman in his latest Truth Social post.Read moreMilitary‘Tossed out’: US army purge backfiresA shocking number of top US military officials have been sacked in recent months – and experts say it’s an alarming sign of things to come.Read moreMiddle East‘Basket-case’ nation does the unthinkable“A whole civilisation will die tonight,” US President Donald Trump warned yesterday. But then, something extraordinary happened.Read more