President Donald Trump dismissed concerns that an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope was offensive to Catholics and accused the media of drumming up anger.
Trump or his team posted the image on his Truth Social account on Friday, where it quickly generated blowback. Italy’s former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said it was “an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown.” Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York whom Trump recommended for the papacy last week, and the New York State Catholic Conference also expressed dismay.
When asked about negative Catholic reaction over the image at a Monday press conference at the White House, Trump replied: “You don’t mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media … the Catholics loved it.”
Pope Francis died on April 21, Easter Monday. His death triggered a nine-day mourning period and soon a papal conclave, which will see the College of Cardinals gather at the Sistine Chapel in Rome to elect a new leader.
On Monday, Trump told reporters that he had not seen the image, which the official White House X account reposted, until Sunday night.
“I have no idea where it came from,” he said. “Maybe it was AI. But I know nothing about it. I just saw it last evening. Actually my wife thought it was cute. She said, isn’t that nice?”
Trump on Monday also joked that the Papacy likely isn’t in his future even though last week he joked he would be his own top choice for the post.
“Actually I would not be able to be married though,” he said. “That would be a lot. I’d have to — to the best of my knowledge, popes aren’t big on getting married, are they? Not that we know of, no.”
