President Donald Trump quickly responded on Tuesday when reporters inquired about his preferred choice for the next leader of the Catholic Church.
“I’d like to be Pope,” he joked to reporters at the White House. “That would be my number one choice.”
He pushed the joke even further on Saturday by posting what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself dressed in traditional papal attire. The image shows him in a white cassock, wearing a cross around his neck, with a serious expression as he raises one finger in a gesture of authority.
The origins of the image remain unclear, and Trump offered no caption or explanation when he shared it. The AI-generated photo appeared across his accounts on Truth Social, Instagram, and X, and was later reposted by the White House on its official Instagram and X profiles.
Dubbed “Pope Trump” by some online, the image sparked immediate controversy on the left. Many religious observers, including Catholics, found it offensive—especially given that it was posted during a time of mourning following the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday. Several users criticized the post as sacrilegious and misleading.
Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee but who has since moved on to take a gig at far-left MSNBC and is a frequent GOP critic, condemned the timing and tone of the post, calling it further proof that Trump is “unserious and incapable.”
Left-leaning former Premier Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around,” Renzi wrote on X. “Meanwhile, the US economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. The sovereignists are doing damage, everywhere.”
Others, however, including most Republicans, understand that Trump was merely trolling and have played along with the president’s joke this week. Among them was Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope,” he said Tuesday in a post on X. “The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides,” he added. “Watching for white smoke … Trump MMXXVIII!”
Others on social media pointed out that some of the same people complaining about Trump’s AI-generated papal photo were silent when legitimate blasphemy is committed against the Catholic Church and Western Christianity in general.
“Liberals can mock the Last Supper & Catholicism in general at the Olympics, in addition to many other times they’ve mocked religion, but Trump posting a meme as him as Pope isn’t okay?” Kylie Jane Kremer, co-founder of Women for America First, posted on X along with a mocking photo of the Last Supper featured at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
This isn’t the first time Trump has provoked the left with content seemingly created with artificial intelligence. In February, he posted a video that portrayed the Gaza Strip transformed into a luxurious resort bearing his name, a move that drew sharp condemnation from a spokesperson for the Hamas-led government, who called it “disgraceful.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump, who has significantly bolstered the political influence of Christians during his presidency, said he had no strong preference for the next pope. Still, he mentioned Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, as a personal favorite. Cardinal Dolan, however, is not considered a leading contender in the papal conclave set to begin on Wednesday.
