Trump posts AI-generated photo of himself as pope

US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated photo showing himself as the pope ahead of this week's gathering of cardinals to choose a new leader of the 1.4-billion-strong Catholic Church, and just days after he joked he would "like to be pope."

Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday, less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month. The White House then reposted it on its official X account.

The image shows an unsmiling Trump seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with right forefinger raised.

The post has been met with amusement and criticism, with many describing it as disrespectful.

The irreverent posting drew instant outrage on X, including from Republicans against Trump, a group that describes itself as "pro-democracy conservative Republicans fighting Trump & Trumpism."

The group reposted the image, calling it "a blatant insult to Catholics and a mockery of their faith."

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 7.

“Please take this down,” pleaded one social media user.

“Many Catholics, myself included, find this as a great disrespect to the past and future leader of our church.”

Another responded: “Trump, as someone outside the US, I find your post utterly disrespectful to the Catholic community worldwide. The papacy is a sacred institution for millions, and this mockery is an affront to their beliefs.”

Is anyone else surprised that Trump would be so brazenly sacrilegious?

Me either.

Classless.

— Trump Tracker (@trackingdonald) May 3, 2025

“Completely disrespectful. The Catholic community is mourning and you post this?”

The president was criticised over his appearance at Pope Francis’ funeral last week, after he attended wearing a non-traditional blue suit and was seen chewing gum during the ceremony.

@grok Does this technically constitute a blasphemy, buddy? Also, how do you think devoted Catholics are going to react to this?

— penguins_against_trump (@FlippersUpNow) May 3, 2025

Some critics also suggested his meeting on the sidelines with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was inappropriate.

In mid-February, both Trump and the official White House social media accounts posted a different AI-generated image of the president wearing a crown and captioned "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"

In West Palm Beach, Debbie Macchia, 60, stood waiting with a dozen other supporters as Trump's motorcade arrived at his golf club on Saturday morning.

"He was clearly joking. Clearly joking," said Macchia, who is Jewish. "But I wouldn't want to see them do anything sacrilegious with the pope, or anything."

Agencies