Harriet Barber
Sat, May 3, 2025 at 5:45 PM GMT+7
The president posted an AI image of himself as pope – Truth Social
Not content with being the leader of the free world, Donald Trump has again jokingly suggested that he would also like to be the next pope.
On Friday evening, the US president published a spoof AI-generated photograph of himself dressed in papal regalia on his Truth Social platform.
The picture depicted the president draped in white robes, wearing a gold crucifix pendant and mitre hat, while pointing his right index finger to the sky.
It comes days ahead of the conclave, where cardinals at the Vatican will elect the successor of Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
It also follows a joke made by Mr Trump on Tuesday. When asked who he would like to succeed Pope Francis, he said: “I’d like to be pope, that would be my number one choice.”
Credit: Reuters
The president went on to say he did not have a preference for Pope Francis’s successor.
But he added: “We have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who is very good”, in comments thought to refer to Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.
Mr Trump’s picture, which was published without a caption, quickly went viral.
But not everyone saw the funny side. Melanie D’Arrigo, a former Democratic congressional candidate, said: “The guy who broke all Ten Commandments is posting pictures of himself cosplaying as the next pope.”
The Republicans Against Trump account wrote: “Trump just posted a photo of himself as the pope. It’s full-on lunacy at this point.”
Last week, Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator, also weighed in, telling the papal conclave to “keep an open mind” about Mr Trump as pope and saying he was “excited” by the prospect.
Mr Trump attended the funeral service of Pope Francis last week, his first foreign trip since returning to power.
Pope Francis had arguably been one of the most powerful voices on the world stage critical of Mr Trump.
The Catholic pontiff once told reporters: “Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian.”
About 20 per cent of Americans declare themselves Catholic, and exit polls indicated that around 60 per cent of them who voted in November’s presidential election favoured the Republican.
