Washington’s buzzing, and it’s not just the usual political hum. President Donald Trump has kicked up a hornet’s nest with a single social media post—an AI-generated image of himself decked out as the pope, complete with white cassock, gold cross, and papal swagger. The picture, dropped on his Truth Social platform on May 2, 2025, landed like a Molotov cocktail among Catholics still mourning Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21 at 88. With cardinals gearing up for a solemn conclave on May 7 to pick a new pontiff, the backlash was swift and fierce.
The New York State Catholic Conference, representing the state’s bishops, didn’t mince words. They called the image a slap in the face, posted at a time when the faithful are grieving and preparing for the sacred task of choosing St. Peter’s successor. Across the Atlantic, Italy’s former prime minister Matteo Renzi slammed the move as an insult to believers and a clownish stunt by a world leader. Even Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York archbishop known to be chummy with Trump, shook his head, saying the image “wasn’t good” and hoping the president had no hand in it.
The White House didn’t back down. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed to Trump’s trip to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26 as proof of his respect for Catholics. She doubled down, calling him a champion of religious liberty. But the defense didn’t cool the outrage. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, went biblical, quoting Galatians to warn that “God is not mocked” and accusing Trump of ridiculing the Church and the papacy itself.
This isn’t the first time Trump’s stirred this pot. On April 29, he cracked to reporters outside the White House that he’d love to be pope—“my number one choice,” he said with a grin, before tossing out Cardinal Dolan’s name as a serious contender. The joke didn’t land well then, and the AI image, reposted by the White House’s official accounts on May 3, poured gas on the fire. Some, like Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, brushed it off as a gag. Others weren’t laughing.
The timing couldn’t be worse. The Vatican’s conclave, a secretive vote by 133 cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, is a high-stakes moment for the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. Pope Francis’s death, from a stroke and heart failure, left a void, and the Church is in a delicate transition. Trump, who isn’t Catholic and rarely attends church, was already criticized for showing up to the pope’s funeral in a blue suit and chewing gum during the ceremony.
The image itself—Trump in papal regalia, finger raised like a pontiff mid-blessing—has been called everything from “infantile” by Italy’s La Repubblica to “pathological megalomania” by its commentators. The Vatican stayed mum, with spokesman Matteo Bruni sidestepping questions during a May 3 briefing. But the silence from Rome only amplified the noise elsewhere.
The uproar shows no sign of fading. Catholic leaders are demanding apologies, while Trump’s allies, like Senator Lindsey Graham, lean into the controversy, joking about “Pope Trump” as a “dark horse” candidate. The White House’s decision to amplify the image on its official channels has raised eyebrows, with critics calling it a reckless move for a president navigating a polarized nation where 20% of voters identify as Catholic.
The facts are stark: Trump posted the image on May 2, 2025, on Truth Social. The White House reposted it on May 3. Pope Francis died on April 21, 2025. The conclave begins May 7. The Catholic Church is mourning, and Trump’s stunt has left a bruise.