The Cardinals will gather on May 7th at Conclave, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, to elect a new Pope.
President Donald Trump faced backlash from Catholics, but after he posted a photo generated by artificial intelligence that showed himself as the Pope era before Conclave to elect the next Pope.
Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted images on his true social platform late Friday, less than a week after attending Pope Francis’ funeral, who passed away at the age of 88 last month. The White House has reposted it on its official X account.
This image shows tiny playing cards not sitting in a gorgeous chair wearing a white pope vest and a headdress.
After Trump joked to reporters this week, he wanted to become the next pope. It’s a few days before Cardinals began a conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor.
pic.twitter.com/x2hrr939tn
– White House (@WhiteHouse) May 3, 2025
When asked who he took over Francis’s handover, Trump said, “I want to be Pope, that’s probably my number one option.”
Trump went on to say he had no preference, but he said there was a “very good” cardinal in New York.
He appeared to be referring to New York archbishop Timothy Dolan, a theological conservative and violent opposition to abortion.
Dolan said on Sunday that Trump’s image of AI pope was “not good,” but refused to say whether the White House should apologise for offending Catholics. “I hope he had nothing to do with it,” he said before the Mass in the Roman Church.
“Black humiliation for Catholics”
But the insulting post sparked immediate rage from Republicans against Trump, a group that describes as “a democratic Republican who is fighting Trump and Trumpism.” The group reposted the image, calling it “a blatant humiliation towards Catholics and the ock ha ha of their faith.”
The New York State Catholic Conference has expressed sharp criticism of the photographs, saying it represents the bishops of the nation when working with the government.
“There’s nothing smart about this image or interesting,” the president wrote in X’s post.
“We have just buried our beloved Pope Francis and Cardinals are about to enter a strict conclave to elect a new successor to St. Peter. Don’t laugh at us.”
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to comment on the image during a briefing with journalists about the process of electing a new pope, which begins on May 7th.
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote to X: “This shows that it angers followers, humiliates institutions and shows that global rights leaders are clowns. Meanwhile, the American economy will lose its recession and the value of the dollar.”
Italy’s left-leaning La Republica also posted an commentary that accused Trump of being “pathological exaggeration.”
When asked to respond to criticism, White House spokesman Caroline Levitt said, “President Trump flew to Italy to pay tribute to Pope Francis and attended the funeral, where he was a solid champion of Catholics and religious freedom.”
Pope Francis was undoubtedly one of the most powerful moral voices on the world stage critical of Trump.
When Trump first ran for president in 2016, Francis was not awaiting his signature promise to build a border wall to seal Mexico.
Francis told reporters:
The Cardinals will gather on May 7th at Conclave, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, to elect a new Pope.
