Trump posts AI-generated photo of himself dressed as the pope

Trump attended Pope Francis‘ funeral in Rome last weekend, during which he also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On Tuesday, days after returning from Francis’ funeral, Trump joked to reporters outside the White House that he’d “like to be pope,” adding, “that would be my number one choice.”

He followed up by saying that he has “no preference” over who is ultimately selected.

Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, met with the Roman Catholic pontiff one day before his death.

Francis died of a stroke that ultimately led to irreversible heart failure, according to a death certificate issued by the Vatican.

The post of the AI-generated image sparked widespread social media response, with some users defending it as a joke and others strongly denouncing the image.

The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, starkly condemned the post, saying, “there is nothing clever or funny about this image.”

“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,” the conference said in a post on X.

“Do not mock us,” the post continued.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, an outspoken Trump critic, criticized the post and said it “affirms how unserious and incapable [Trump] is.”

This is not the first time that the White House shared a controversial AI-generated image of Trump.

In February, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich posted an AI-generated image of Trump depicted as a king, after the administration moved to eliminate New York City’s congestion pricing program.

Trump referred to himself as the king in a Truth Social post touting that “congestion pricing is dead.”

“Manhattan and all of New York, is saved. Long live the king,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in February.