The Catholic Bishops of New York have expressed displeasure at the posturing of President Donald Trump as a pope in his AI image.
The bishops lamented that Trump chose to depict himself as a pope at a time the church is mocking the passage of Pope Francis.
They said it was a mockery and nothing humorous.
Via its official X accouny, the Bishops of New York State wrote: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We 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.”
A dignitary that many would see as an extrovert while others suspect a more extreme personality, Trump had 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, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday, May 2, less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month.
The White House then reposted the photo on its official X account.
The image shows an unsmiling Trump seated in a chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with right forefinger raised.
The photo drew instant outrage on X, including from Republicans against Trump, a group that describes itself as “pro-democracy conservative Republicans fighting Trump & Trumpism.”
