President Donald Trump followed up on his “I’d like to be Pope” comment last week by sharing a photo depicting himself as the Holy Father in a Friday night Truth Social post.
The Republican president, a non-Catholic, shared what appeared to be an AI-generated photo of himself as the pope, dressed in white robes, gilded in gold. The White House amplified the photo by sharing it across its official social media platforms. And while Trump did not caption the post, for many, it crossed the line as “disrespectful” and “disgusting.”
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele—now a host on MSNBC—also took Trump to task, tweeting that he will set the “offense aside because Trump in his narcissism gets off on our being offended.”
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“More to the point, this affirms how unserious and incapable he is,” he added. “At 78, he remains a 10yo child, emotionally scarred and broken while desperate to prove he could be somebody. His problem: he can’t grow up to prove it.”
Morgan J. Freeman, TV and producer of such films as Desert Blue and Hurricane Streets, ripped Trump on X for turning America into a “joke.”
“This post is a massive insult to Catholics, Pope Francis’ family, friends & devotees, and to the present conclave,” he wrote, adding, “Only thing potentially accurate is that Trump is a sexual.”
Another commentator added on Truth Social: “If you were as religious as you claim to be, you would know this is incredibly insulting to a huge number of your followers and wouldn’t have posted it. You have no shame.”
Yet Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, appeared to brush off the “joke.”
“As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,” he wrote on X.
Others called for more trolling of the Catholic Church.
“Nearly fell off my chair laughing and cheering at the same time. Raised a Catholic, attended CCD, Alter (sic.) Boy, and I approve of this legendary trolling message,” one user said.
Trump’s post marked his latest dig at the papacy after he told reporters on Wednesday that he was his own “number one choice” to succeed the late Pope Francis. The conclave assembly of cardinals to choose the next pope, predicted to be “very short,” will begin Wednesday, May 7. Amid Trump’s trolling, a cardinal said the Vatican is still looking for “Francis 2.”
“I think there is a consensus ... the vision is very clear what kind of pope we need in the church and for the world,” Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of El Salvador told ABC News. “That is why I think the conclave will be very short, two or three days.”
Pope Francis, who has spoken publicly against Trump’s immigration deportation policies, landed one final dig in a letter read at his funeral that once again rebuked Trump’s “walls.”
“Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice, imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” a cardinal said during the ceremony as Trump looked on. “‘Build bridges, not walls,’ was an exhortation he repeated many times.”
