To celebrate the second Sunday of Easter, President Donald Trump seems to have decided that blasphemy might be the best option.
On Sunday evening, Trump posted a the verbal attack of Pope Leo XIV on Social Truth, saying the first American-born leader of the Roman Catholic Church was “WEAK on Crime, and bad on Foreign Policy.” Today, by criticizing the joint US-Israeli war against Iran, he appears to be “engaging with the Right,” “hurting the Catholic Church,” and encouraging Iran to develop nuclear weapons. “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo,” Trump later told reporters.
- President Donald Trump on Sunday exacerbated tensions between the Vatican and his government by criticizing Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” and in the service of the “Radical Left” for criticizing the US-Israeli war against Iran.
- It was his most direct attack on the pope, and drew criticism from Catholics, including Republicans who have supported Trump in the past.
- The controversy grew among some evangelical Christians and religious conservatives when Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. He deleted the photo on Monday.
- It is an unforced move that is causing renewed consternation among the religious right.
It’s his sharpest and most direct attack yet on the Reverend Christ, who has been unusually vocal this year in his criticism of foreign military policy, including making a direct call to the president to end the conflict in Iran and promote peace and respect for human life. The pope hinted that he would not back down, telling reporters he had it “no fear” of the White House. And he threw a little elbow as well, calling the posts of Truth Society “ridiculous”: “The name of the site itself. Say no more.”
Take the battle with the spiritual leader to more than 50 million Americans it was a risky move, if it is not unprecedented for Trump, and faced immediate pushback from some right-leaning Catholics.
But in a way, things got worse from there: Trump followed an AI-generated image of him as Jesus Christ healing the sick, surrounded by American symbols and soldiers and spiky figures hovering like angels behind him.
It was that second blasphemy that expanded the turmoil into a full-blown political crisis: This time not just from Catholics, but from evangelicals and other denominations — including many who typically align with Trump.
“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he was under the influence of something or what explanation he might have for this blasphemy to KILL YOU,” Evangelist Megan Basham wrote. “But he needs to get this out of the way immediately and apologize to the American people and then to God.”
“God will not be mocked,” Riley Gaines, a former competitive swimmer and prominent conservative activist, posted.
“This is a terrible blasphemy. Faith is not a proposition,” conservative Christian minority Brilyn Hollyhand said in a video condemning Trump’s post.
“It’s more than blasphemy. It’s the spirit of the Antichrist,” said former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Christian critic of Israel and Trump’s second term.
“Trump is my President; Jesus is my Lord,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has been published. “I’m not confused which one it is, and I hope this picture gets removed.”
By Monday afternoon, Trump had deleted the post, a rare slip, claiming he did not understand what he was involved in. “I thought it was me as a doctor,” he said, according to Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove.
It’s not news that Trump’s personal behavior is completely inconsistent with the Ten Commandments, but critics have pointed to this hypocrisy for more than a decade with little effect on his religiously conservative support.
The big question then is why is this time different?
The religious backlash against Trump has been building for months
Trump’s latest religious post sparked a firestorm, but the fire has been heating up over the past few months.
Christians in America are divided for a joint US-Israeli war against Iran: Some anti-Israel MAGA Catholics were already turning to Trump, much to his anger; conservative evangelicals and non-Zionist Christians have already been angering American Catholics on the right; and criticism of Trump’s foreign policy and immigration agenda from the Vatican and US bishops was putting right-leaning American Catholics in an untenable position.
Now, it looks like Trump is seriously testing how much it would take for religious conservatives to abandon his movement. And he hits everything he can.
Start with Pope Today. Just before Trump’s latest post, Catholics were already dealing with a a series of alarming reports about a meeting between Pentagon officials and the Vatican’s top diplomat in the United States back in January, where a Trump aide issued what was reportedly interpreted by some church leaders as a threat over the pope’s criticism of military operations. Although the tone and content of this meeting are disputed by the Pentagon and the Vatican, the effect of these reports was the same: a growing feeling that the pope and the president are at odds.
Perhaps for that reason, Trump’s response to attacking Leo was very strong compared to previous events, such as when posted a photo of himself as a shark after Pope Francis died. The latest episode raised concerns for the president considering his frustrations over the war on the church, a problem that could worsen if the conflict continues to escalate and his approval ratings worsen.
Bishop Robert Barron, a member of Trump’s Commission on Religious Freedom who is popular with traditional Catholics and the religious right, called his statements “absolutely inappropriate and disrespectful,” and urged “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 conversation can take place.”
Other prominent American Catholics as well to be measured: The head of the American Catholic Bishops’ Conference said he was “heartbroken” that Trump would attack Leo, and reminded him that the pope is not a politician, but “a priest of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the service of souls.”
There are already signs of a clear divide between many American Catholics and Trump, especially over the Iran war. Trump’s full approval is now negative with them, after polls reported that he won this religious segment of the electorate by almost 20 points during the 2024 election. A recent survey of the temperature of American Catholics on Iran is also negative: they oppose the Iran war by 10 points, and they oppose Trump’s handling of it by a margin of 20 points, March Fox News poll.
“Trump has already lost support from the Catholic right, which leans toward separatism, over his decision to go to war with Iran.”
– Peter Laffin, Washington Examiner editor-in-chief
“Trump has already lost support from the Catholic right, which leans toward separatism, over his decision to go to war with Iran,” Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Peter Laffin, a Catholic writer, told me. “If I were the Republican candidate heading into 2026, I’d be more concerned about how his attacks on Pope Leo play among Hispanic Catholics who swung heavily to the GOP in 2024.”
And this whole episode is once again bringing the future of the Republican Party into the spotlight. It presents a new obstacle for Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, who continues to find himself torn between defending the president, managing relations between MAGA groups, and bringing forth Catholic criticism, all while defining his political career based on his Catholic conversion (which is the subject of his next book).
“This is going to be important to JD Vance,” said Trump critic Candace Owens, an example of the growing anti-war, and sometimes Catholic wing of the conservative media.
Now can we all agree that this is a personality cult, of which the main worshiper is the leader?” Rod Drehera conservative Eastern Orthodox Christian writer known for his work close relationship with Vancehas been published. He also criticized Trump’s posts about Pope Leo.
But as much as this concerns Catholics, it also includes the larger religiously conservative community, of evangelical and non-denominational Christians, where Trump has now unnecessarily exposed himself.
They have largely stuck with him as the war continues, motivated in part by the Christian Zionist beliefs that underlie their faith and support for the modern state of Israel. Now, Trump’s extreme blasphemy – pretending to be Jesus on social media – about already threatening Iran with annihilation right after Easter, the holiest time of the Christian calendar, is causing a kind of self-reflection, doubt, and criticism of the president that we have never seen before.
“The media is considering (broadcasters) breaking with Trump on Iran,” said evangelical radio host Erick Erickson. has been published. “What they should focus on are Trump’s Christian supporters who have stood with him through Iran, who are waking up to his blasphemy.”
