President Donald Trump has publicly attacked Pope Leo XIV, accusing him of being "weak on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy". This comes after both the Vatican and the Pentagon conducted damage control over reports that the administration pressured the Holy See to align with its foreign policy. The Vatican has denied these reports, calling them "completely untrue" and stating that the parties had merely discussed matters of mutual interest. Despite these statements, there are some similarities between what the administration was reported to have said behind closed doors in January and what Trump publicly announced publicly. Trump also posted a now-deleted photo of himself as Jesus Christ with signs of U.S. might behind him.