President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself dressed as pope as the mourning of Pope Francis continues and just days before the conclave to elect his successor is set to begin. Trump\u2019s action drew rebukes from a group representing Catholic bishops in New York and among Italians. <\/p>\n
The image, shared Friday night on Trump\u2019s Truth Social site and later reposted by the White House on its official X account, raised eyebrows on social media and at the Vatican, which is still in the period of nine days of official mourning following Francis\u2019 death on April 21. Catholic cardinals have been celebrating daily Masses in his memory and are due to open the conclave to elect his successor on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The death of a pope and election of another is a matter of utmost solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is Christ\u2019s vicar on Earth. That is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by nonreligious Italians. <\/p>\n
The image featuring Trump in a white cassock and pointed miter, or bishop\u2019s hat, was the topic of several questions during the Vatican\u2019s daily conclave briefing Saturday. Italian and Spanish news reports lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive, given that the period of official mourning is still underway. <\/p>\n
Left-leaning former Premier Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. \u201cThis is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around,\u201d Renzi wrote on X. \u201cMeanwhile, the US economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. The sovereignists are doing damage, everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, declined to comment. <\/p>\n
In the United States, the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of the state in working with government, accused Trump of mockery. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.\u201d <\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s left-leaning La Repubblica also featured the image on its homepage Saturday with a commentary accusing Trump of \u201cpathological megalomania.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked to respond to the criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, \u201cPresident Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects for Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jack Posobiec, a prominent far-right influencer and Trump ally who recently participated in a Catholic prayer event in March at Trump\u2019s Florida resort, also defended the president. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Catholic. We\u2019ve all been making jokes about the upcoming Pope selection all week. It\u2019s called a sense of humor,\u201d he wrote on X. <\/p>\n
The episode comes after Trump joked last week about his interest in the vacancy. \u201cI\u2019d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,\u201d the thrice married president, who is not Catholic, told reporters. <\/p>\n
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, piled on. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!\u201d Graham, R-S.C., wrote on X. \u201cThe first Pope-US President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke\u2026. Trump MMXXVIII!\u201d <\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic and was one of the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the pope died, also joked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio becoming pope, suggesting Rubio could add it to the long list of titles he holds, including national security adviser and acting archivist. <\/p>\n
Beyond floating himself for the job, Trump also has put in a plug for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have no preference. I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out a place called New York who\u2019s very good. So we\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Dolan, 75, is one of 10 US cardinals who will be voting in the conclave, but Trump\u2019s pitch might have cost Dolan support. <\/p>\n
The reason conclaves are held in secrecy, with cardinals sequestered for the duration, is to prevent outside secular powers from influencing their choice, as occurred in centuries past. <\/p>\n
There is an old saying about campaigning for the job of pope or of being promoted excessively, especially by outsiders: If you \u201center a conclave as pope, you leave as a cardinal.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Trump attended Francis\u2019 funeral, he and Vance have clashed with US bishops in general and Francis in particular over the administration\u2019s hard line stance on immigration and its efforts to deport migrants en masse. Right before he was hospitalized in February for pneumonia, Francis issued a strong rebuke of the administration\u2019s mass deportation plans and Vance\u2019s theological justification of it. <\/p>\n
Over 12 years as pope, Francis tried to remake the U.S. Catholic hierarchy more in his image, elevating pastors who prioritized social justice and migration issues over culture warriors who were more favored by his more doctrinaire predecessors St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. A new pope who is more conservative could reverse that effort. <\/p>\n
Trump has nominated as his ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, whose Catholicvote.org has been aggressively covering the pre-conclave days at the Vatican. It was one of the main disseminators in English-speaking media of a report, flatly and officially denied by the Vatican, that Cardinal Pietro Parolin had had a health scare this past week that required medical attention. <\/p>\n
Parolin was the secretary of state under Francis and is seen as a leading contender to be pope. He is also the main architect of the Vatican\u2019s China policy and its controversial 2018 deal with Beijing over bishop nominations \u2013 a deal that the was sharply criticized by the first Trump administration. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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