A picture depicting Donald Trump as Jesus Christ has been deleted from the president’s Truth Social account after a wave of backlash from far-right Christian figures accusing him of blasphemy.

The image, which appears to be AI-generated, was posted to the president’s social media account after he labeled Pope Leo XIV “WEAK” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy in a Sunday night screed.

The image depicts the president in a white robe and red sash with a glowing outstretched hand placed on the forehead of a man in a hospital bed. Trump is seen surrounded by patriotic symbols including a waving U.S. flag, the Statue of Liberty and an eagle flying above fireworks and fighter jets.

“I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross,” Trump told reporters outside the White House in a hastily arranged press conference on Monday. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”

He blamed “fake news” for comparing the image to Jesus and refused to apologize to the pope, who “said things that are wrong,” according to Trump.

Trump’s Sunday night post was online for more than 12 hours before it was removed from his platform Monday.

“This should be deleted immediately,” wrote Sean Feucht, a Christian performer and activist who is partnering with the Trump administration for a series of worship events tied to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “There’s no context where this is acceptable.”

Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a prominent figure in the administration’s efforts to ban transgender Americans from women’s sports and recently appeared at the White House, warned that “God shall not be mocked.”

“Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this,” she wrote. “Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?”

Right-wing commentator Brilyn Hollyhand called the post “gross blasphemy.”

“Faith is not a prop,” he wrote. “You don’t need to portray yourself as a savior when your record should speak for itself.”

He added that “the same God who saved Trump’s life from that bullet sent His son Jesus to die for our sins,” referencing the attempted assassination of then-candidate Trump at a campaign rally in 2024. “He died for Trump just as much as for you and I,” Hollyhand said.

“This is blasphemous,” added Outkick’s Jon Root. “Trump portraying himself as Jesus Christ, descending from the clouds, healing the sick, with people praying to him, is reprehensible.”

Isabel Brown, a Catholic podcaster for right-wing outlet The Daily Wire, called the president’s post “disgusting and unacceptable, but also a profound misreading of the American people experiencing a true and beautiful revival of faith in Christ in the midst of our broken culture.”

Michael Knowles, another right-wing Catholic figure at The Daily Wire, said it “behooves the President both spiritually and politically to delete the picture, no matter the intent.”

Trump has long courted the Christian nationalist movement — driven by a belief Christianity is and should be embedded in all aspects of law and society — as a critical faction within his Make America Great Again coalition, while the movement has spent years gaining influence in media and a foothold in federal, state and local governments and a home within Republican politics.

Trump administration officials and federal agencies have increasingly used their official government social media accounts to share explicitly religious messages and declare Jesus the nation’s savior, drawing warnings from First Amendment advocates fearing a critical breach of the church-and-state firewall.

But the president’s explicit depiction of himself as Jesus, moments after attacking the head of the Catholic church, drew swift criticism from evangelical supporters who have rallied alongside him.

“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” wrote Daily Wire contributor Megan Basham. “But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.”

Since taking office, the president and administration officials have appealed directly to Christians and mounted legal defenses to defend them.

Trump has directed a task force at the Department of Justice to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society” and “move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”

He also appointed televangelist pastor Paula White-Cain as a senior adviser to the White House Faith Office and established the Religious Liberty Commission, which is scheduled to meet Monday.

The commission is expected to convene several high-profile, Trump-appointed Christian leaders, including White-Cain, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron.

Hours before the meeting, however, Barron called the president’s statements about Pope Leo “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and said Trump “owes the Pope an apology.”

“It is the Pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life. In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of good will can and do disagree,” he wrote.

He encouraged Catholics within the Trump administration — including State Secretary Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance — to meet with Vatican officials “so that a real dialogue can take place.”

“This is far preferable to the statements on social media,” Barron wrote.