YAOUNDE/new york, April 16 -- Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday doubled down as US President Donald Trump's criticism showed no sign of letting up, insisting that the message "the world needs to hear today" is one of peace and dialogue. Leo spoke to journalists aboard the papal plane en route to Cameroon as he continued his Africa visit. He made no mention of Trump's latest social media post or the suggestion by Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, that he should "be careful" when speaking about theology. Leo took no questions. Rather, he focused on his just-concluded visit to Algeria and the teachings of St Augustine of Hippo, the inspiration of his religious order and his own spirituality. But Leo spoke in terms that suggested the Trump administration's criticism of the pope's calls for peace in the US-Israeli war with Iran had not gone unnoticed. Trump has issued repeated broadsides this week against history's first US-born pope, accusing him of being weak on crime and a captive to the left, and asserting that Leo owed his papacy to Trump. Trump also posted on Sunday, then took down on Monday, an AI-generated, Christ-like image of himself that drew widespread condemnation, even from many supporters. Overnight, Trump posted "Not good!!!" in response to a post citing social media posts by Leo before he was pope that were critical of Trump. And he wrote: "Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable." On Wednesday, Trump posted an apparently AI-generated image of Jesus embracing him, two days after he deleted a post that prompted criticism that the Republican president had compared himself to Jesus. The image, reposted to Trump's Truth Social account, shows Trump with his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post had the caption: "I was never a very religious man .. but doesn't it seem, with all these satanic, demonic, child sacrificing monsters being exposed ... that God might be playing his Trump card!" Trump's repost added the caption: "The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!" Meanwhile, Leo drew attention to his visit on Tuesday to Annaba, the ancient city of Hippo where St. Augustine,the theological and philosophical giant of the early church, lived as a bishop for more than 30 years. "His writings, his teaching, his spirituality, his invitation to search for God and to search for truth is something that is very much needed today, a message that is very real for all of us today as believers in Jesus Christ, but for all people," Leo said....