The US President’s public communications, including the sharing on his social media of an AI-generated image in which he portrays himself in a messianic role, have been causing controversies for months.

Giacomo Ciccone, president of the Italian Evangelical Alliance (AEI), is among the latest to have expressed the sentiments of churches in that Mediterranean country.

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“Instrumental and reckless use of Scripture”

The fact that evangelical Christians are associated in the media globally with figures such as Paula White (President Trump’s spiritual adviser) and Pete Hegseth (Secretary of War in the US administration) produces “a mixture of indignation and a desire for clarity”, says the Italian evangelical leader based in Pescara.

“I believe that Paula White’s recent statements on Easter Sunday, in which she compared and equated President Trump with Jesus Christ, are blasphemous. The positions of Hegseth and of that movement commonly referred to as ‘Christian nationalism’ are Manichaean; through the instrumental and reckless use of Scripture, they identify God’s people with the American nation and cast anathemas against other nations”, states Ciccone.

Trump spiritual advisor Paula White compares President Trump to Jesus Christ at White House Easter Lunch.

"Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar… pic.twitter.com/c1X4QZjeKg

— Chris Menahan (@infolibnews) April 2, 2026

Franklin Graham’s missed opportunities to speak truth to power

Asked about the role played by well-known figures such as Franklin Graham (who has led evangelistic events with churches in Italy on several occasions), the leader of the Italian Evangelical Alliance admits: “Yes, it is regrettable to note the passivity of leaders such as Franklin Graham who, despite opportunities for closeness to the President of the United States, continues to align himself uncritically with power, remaining incapable of embodying any prophetic responsibility and becoming lost in a servile posture”.

Every person will have to answer for their actions, says Ciccone, and it is significant that “immediately following Paula White’s praise, after Hegseth’s outbursts and following Franklin Graham’s omissions and routine defences, President Trump felt emboldened to make statements such as ‘We will strike Iran hard and send it back to the Stone Age’ or even to irresponsibly claim ‘An entire civilisation will die tonight’, and finally went so far as to post blasphemous, self-glorifying images on social media”.

The Italian evangelical representative believes that “all this should give us pause for thought”.

Recovering the meaning of the term ‘evangelical’

The thoughts expressed by Giacomo Ciccone, published on 18 April in the Italian Evangelical Alliance’s newsletter IdeaItalia, also address the evolving meaning of the term ‘evangelical’.

“We all feel the challenge as believers to consider how to honour the evangelical witness and the very term ‘evangelical’ in a world where exploitation and manipulation are out in the open. An act of responsibility is required: not to surrender the name ‘evangelical’ to its distortions, but to clarify its meaning, live it out consistently, and shield it from any ideological appropriation”.

From this perspective, says the Italian representative, “our evangelical identity is not measured by alignment with a leader or a political platform, nor by national or ideological affiliations. It is recognised in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and expressed in a witness that unites truth and grace, conviction and gentleness, humility and hope”.

Evangelical Christians, both in Italy and elsewhere, “wish to honour God” amidst the current global crises, “whilst maintaining an attitude of persevering and trusting prayer, which takes the form of intercession, repentance, service and closeness to those who suffer”, he adds.

In March, the Italian Evangelical Alliance published the manifesto “9 Points of Evangelical Discernment” (translated into English on Evangelical Focus) in which they addressed from a theological perspective current issues such as the value of all human beings, wars, nationalism, autocracies and nuclear risks.

Voices from Switzerland on the “abuse of prayer”

Back in February, the lament of Marc Jost, a Swiss Member of Parliament, theologian and former general secretary of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, caused a stir when he expressed on Evangelical Focus his frustration after attending the traditional Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. “Trump abused the prayer breakfast in the worst possible way for his own selfish purposes,” Jost said after the event.

The Central European country’s evangelical body openly opposes Christian nationalism and stated in 2025 that “too much proximity to political power makes it impossible for the church to fulfil its role as a watchdog”.

Further evangelical analysis of Trump

Also over the past year, several regular columnists for Evangelical Focus, such as Jeff Fountain (from the Netherlands), Johannes Reimer (Germany), as well as the US American Bruce Barron, have repeatedly expressed the palpable concern regarding the association made in the media between Trump and evangelical churches.

The socio-political representative of the European Evangelical Alliance, the British Julia Doxat-Purser, has also commented on the risks and opportunities that must be taken into account when the media turns its spotlight on European evangelical churches and their alleged links to US politics.