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The president of the United States, Donald Trump, posted this Sunday on his social media platform Truth Social an image seemingly generated by artificial intelligence, depicting him embodying the figure of Jesus Christ, laying hands on a sick person lying in bed in a gesture of healing.
The post did not include any explanatory text from the Republican leader.
In the image, Trump is surrounded by military personnel, healthcare staff, and a civilian woman praying. In the background, the American flag, two eagles in flight, soldiers depicted as angels in the sky, the Statue of Liberty, and several iconic monuments of the United States can be distinguished.
The image was shared hours after Trump harshly criticized Pope Leo XIV on the same social network. "Pope Leo is WEAK on crime and terrible in foreign policy," the president wrote in an extensive message in which he also urged him to focus on being a great pope, not a politician, and to "stop appeasing the radical left," warning that he is harming the Catholic Church.
Trump's criticisms of the pontiff arose after statements by León XIV condemning the threat to "wipe out" Iran and calling for a ceasefire in the region. Trump declared that he did not want a pope who supported Iran having nuclear weapons or who opposed U.S. military action against Venezuela. The pope responded from a flight to Algeria that the Church has a moral obligation to stand against war and that he is not afraid to speak out.
The publication of the image coincides with Holy Week, which amplifies its symbolic significance. That same night, Trump also shared another image generated by artificial intelligence depicting one of his signature skyscrapers built on the Moon in the shape of a rocket, apparently alluding to the successful return of the Artemis II mission, which concluded last Friday, bringing humans to lunar orbit for the first time since 1972.
This is not the first time Trump has resorted to images of this kind. In May 2025, just days before the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV —American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost— he posted a picture of himself dressed as the Pope, accompanied by the phrase, "I think I would be a great Pope. No one would do it better than me". Cardinal Timothy Dolan criticized that post calling it frivolous and disrespectful.
The history of images generated by artificial intelligence that Trump has shared on Truth Social also includes an image of Superman, published in July 2025 by the White House, and a cover of Time magazine with the caption Long Live the King, circulated in February 2025. In January 2026, he shared another image alongside European leaders in which a map displayed Canada, Greenland, Cuba and Venezuela covered with the American flag.
These publications are part of a communication strategy that blends religious symbolism, military power, and national grandeur, which has sparked an ongoing debate about the boundaries between religion, politics, and technology in contemporary political communication.
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