Trump Attack on Pope and Posting of Jesus Image Draw Widespread Criticism…

President Trump faced a groundswell of criticism from Christians across the political spectrum on Monday for his social-media posts attacking Pope Leo XIV and depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure.

Pushback was swift and forceful, coming from top leaders of the American Catholic Church as well as some from Mr. Trump’s supporters. By late morning on Monday, the Jesus image was deleted from the president’s social-media account.

The president’s tirade on Sunday night against Pope Leo, one week after Easter Sunday, accused him of being too liberal and “weak on crime,” and even falsely claimed credit for the pope’s election.

For months, tension between the White House and the Vatican has been mounting amid the turbulence of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation and military operations. Mr. Trump’s extraordinary eruption, the first major attack from the president against the pope, put on unavoidable display the starkly divergent moral visions of the two most powerful Americans in the world.

Pope Leo, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has rebuked Mr. Trump recently for his comments about Iran, and has condemned the violence stemming from wars in the Middle East. He replied on Monday morning to Mr. Trump’s outburst as he departed for a 10-day pastoral trip to Africa.

“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” the pope told reporters on his way to Algiers.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a highly unusual statement to defend the pontiff late Sunday night.