The White House published on Saturday an image generated by the AI-AI of American President Donald Trump as the head of the Catholic Church.
Trup joked a few days earlier that he “would like to be pope” and had originally published the image on his own network of social media, Truth Social. This was then shared by the White House.
The image was published by the American president just a few days before the conclave to elect a new pontiff begins on May 7 after the death of Pope Francis on Easter Sunday.
The death of a pope and the election of another is a question of greater solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is the vicar of Christ on earth. This is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by non -religious Italians.
The image featuring Trump in a white quarry and a pointed miter, or the Bishop hat, was the subject of several questions during the daily briefing of the Vatican on Saturday. Italian and Spanish reports deplored his bad taste and said he was offensive, since the official mourning period was still underway.
The message caused considerable outrage online, the official account of the Catholic Conference of New York State saying in a separate article that “there is nothing intelligent or funny in this image”.
The organization, which represents the bishops of New York State, added that the American president should not “make fun of us”.
When he was asked to respond to criticism, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump flew to Italy to pay tribute to Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he was a solid champion for Catholics and religious freedom.”
Trump recently consulted the Vatican last Saturday, in what was his first foreign trip during his second term, in order to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.
Shortly before the start of the funeral, he met the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss new steps towards the end of the war with Russia, as well as a Mineral Pact This was signed later between the United States and Ukraine.
Trump's choice for the pope
While speaking to journalists last Tuesday, Trump joked that he would himself be his “number one choice”, before adding “I must say that we have a cardinal who happens to be outside a place called New York which is very good”.
Trump referred to the New York Timothy Michael Dolan cardinal, one of the 10 American cardinals who will vote in the conclave.
However, Trump's field could have cost Dolan's support, as competitors due to secrecy, with sequestrated cardinals for duration, in order to prevent external secular power from influencing their choice.
