President Donald Trump has been accused of mocking the Catholic Church after posting an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the pope, just days before a new pontiff is to be elected and while the Vatican remains in mourning for Pope Francis.
The image, shared on Trump’s Truth Social platform and the White House’s official X account late Friday, shows the US President in full papal attire, a white cassock, gold crucifix, and mitre, pointing skyward. It follows a recent comment by Trump that he would “like to be pope,” and comes less than a week after he attended Francis’s funeral in Rome.
According to BBC, the New York State Catholic Conference accused Trump of mocking the faith, stating: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President… Do not mock us.” Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also denounced it, calling the post insulting and offensive to believers.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump, noting he flew to Italy for Pope Francis’s funeral and has long supported religious liberty. However, critics across the religious and political spectrum accused Trump of poor taste and self-aggrandisement, with Italian media branding it “pathological megalomania,” CNN reported.