As Catholics throughout the world continue to mourn Pope Francis President Donald Trump has become the target of a barrage of condemnation from Roman Catholic Church leaders after sharing a computer-generated image of himself as pope in full papal regalia on social media.
Trump ought to apologize, according to at least one U.S. bishop and even New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, his closest church leader called it not good.”
Trumpsofficial X accounts, one from the White House and one from his personal account, both featured the picture. Days after Trump told reporters in Washington I’d like to be pope they were posted on May 3 just after 5 a.m. I would pick that as my top option.
Trump supported his pal Dolan after making the remark while maintaining a straight face Proponents claimed he was kidding.
Following the tweet’s publication on May 3 Catholic Vice President JD Vance called the uproar surrounding Trump’s white outfit a comedy.
An email requesting comment was not answered by the White House President 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 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Associated Press in response to the criticism.
As he entered Santa Maria delle Grazie to celebrate Mass Cardinal Joseph Tobin the archbishop of Newark New Jersey who is seen as the leading American candidate for pope refused to comment on the Trump as pope Picture When queried by the National Catholic Reporter he replied It’s not worth commenting on.
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield Illinois stated on social media that Trump should apologize to Catholics.
“This is deeply offensive to Catholics especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the election of our new Trump pope Picture said Pap rocki.
The Bible passage from Galatians that Paprocki cited warns God is not mocked He stated By publishing a picture of himself masquerading as the Pope President Trump mocks God, the Catholic Church, and the Papacy.
There is “nothing clever or funny about this image Mr President according to the New York State Catholic Conference on X. Pope Francis was been laid to rest and the cardinals will soon convene in a solemn conclave to choose a new St Peter successor Don’t make fun of us.
Reporters stopped Dolan, the archbishop of New York, in Rome and inquired about it. A multimedia journalist for the New York Archdiocese shared a video of Dolan saying I hope he didn’t have anything to do with that,” on social media.
“Is that offensive to you a reporter inquired.
After a moment, Dolan said It wasn’t good He laughed uneasily as he repeated that to Roman media in Italian.
On May 3 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not seem to comment In fact even though the AI image went popular on social media some in the Catholic hierarchy seem reluctant to bring it up at all Few bishops had spoken directly to the image as of the morning of May 4.
On social media, New York-based Jesuit priest and journalist Fr James Martin stated: Jesuits are always obliged to give individuals the benefit of the doubt I will thus assume that Mr. Trump meant this in a humorous manner despite the fact that I find it quite disrespectful (he having just returned from Pope Francis’s funeral mass and his Catholic vice president visited with Francis the day before he passed away)
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