Utah Sen. John Curtis denounced a now-deleted social media post from President Donald Trump that depicted the president as a Jesus-like figure, calling the photo “blasphemous.”
“I found it offensive. It’s not appropriate,” Curtis said on Monday. “We have a really healthy relationship in the United States between religion and government, and there should be respect, and it was not respectful.”
Curtis’ sentiment reflects a broader wave of criticism from those on the religious right who decried the post on social media after it was posted on Truth Social Sunday evening. Conservative influencers offered rare pushback to Trump, such as women’s sports activist Riley Gaines and conservative author and podcaster Michael Knowles.
Trump took down the post on Monday, later telling reporters he didn’t realize the picture was meant to depict him as Jesus. Instead, he suggested “only the fake news” would come to that conclusion.
“I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross,” Trump said. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better.”
Still, the photo followed another social media post in which Trump railed against Pope Leo XIV, which still remains on his Truth Social page. In the lengthy post, Trump criticized the Catholic leader for being “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., briefly responded to the pair of posts when the Senate reconvened from its two-week recess on Monday.
“I would leave the church alone,” Thune said in response to Trump’s attack on the pope.
Pope Leo, for his part, responded to the post to say he “has no fear” of the Trump administration or of retaliation.
“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, what the Church is here to do,” he said. “We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”