Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the religious rhetoric deployed by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in recent weeks — and, in contrast, view Pope Leo XIV positively as the pontiff has hit back at the administration , according to a poll. Trump’s Truth Social post of an AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus , which he was forced to delete after backlash from the religious right,went down incredibly badly with Americans, with 87 percent expressing their disapproval in the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll . A further 69 percent disliked it when Hegseth prayed that there would be “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy ” during a religious service at the Pentagon at the end of March. Trump’s social media post and Hegseth’s invocation of his religion have also upset Republicans and MAGA voters.…