A pair of social media posts published by President Donald Trump over the weekend have stirred backlash, including from some of the president’s Catholic and evangelical supporters, who condemned his strident criticism of Pope Leo and an image he posted depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure.
The first post, which was published at around 9:00 p.m. ET Sunday evening, focused on Pope Leo, who has been critical of the Trump administration’s actions in the Iran war. In a lengthy statement, Trump declared the pontiff is “weak” on crime and nuclear weapons, and ultimately claimed Leo was only elevated to the papacy to counter the president.
“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Trump wrote.
