Catholic leaders respond to President Trump over AI image of himself as pope

Michie · 2025-05-05T14:29:12-0500

Catholic leaders and some members of the Church hierarchy in the United States have criticized President Donald Trump for sharing an AI-generated image of himself dressed as a pope.

Trump, who frequently shares memes of himself on social media, posted the image to Truth Social on Friday after joking that he would like to be chosen as the next pope. The White House subsequently posted the photo on its official X account.

The social media posts came just days after the president said he would “like to be pope” when a reporter asked him who he hopes is selected for the papacy in the upcoming papal conclave. As part of his response to that same question, he went on to say he actually had “no preference” while also touting Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as a “very good” candidate.

Trump’s latest joke about the matter received pushback from some Catholic leaders, including Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, and the entire New York Catholic Conference. As of the time of publication, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had not issued a statement nor responded to a request for comment from CNA.

Continued below.

UPDATE: Trump dismisses criticism of AI image of him as pope

Trump, who frequently shares memes of himself on social media, posted the image to Truth Social on Friday after joking that he would like to be chosen as the next pope.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

RileyG · 2025-05-05T16:17:01-0500

I did not like it. Ugh

Michie · 2025-05-05T16:18:20-0500

Nobody did. But I just blew it off. Joke fail.

RileyG said:
I did not like it. Ugh

RileyG · 2025-05-05T16:19:06-0500

Michie said:
Nobody did. But I just blew it off. Joke fail.

Someone did the same with Biden using AI.

Michie · 2025-05-05T16:27:57-0500

Which one? Weren’t there several? I’m already sick of AI and that chat gpt.

RileyG · 2025-05-05T16:28:41-0500

Michie said:
Which one? Weren’t there several? I’m already sick of AI and that chat gpt.

It’s where he appears to be sleeping.

Michie · 2025-05-05T16:43:12-0500

RileyG said:
It’s where he appears to be sleeping.

I think I remember that… :scratch:

Michie · 2025-05-05T17:16:56-0500

Ran across this:

"You don't mean the Catholics; you mean the fake news media," he added. "The Catholics loved it."

Trump clarified that he had "nothing to do with it."

"Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That's not me that did it. I have no idea who it came from. Maybe it was [Artificial Intelligence]," he added.

Continued below.

Trump defends White House account sharing photo of him dressed like pope: 'Did it in fun'

President Donald Trump is insisting that people offended by an image he shared on social media portraying himself as the pope can t take a joke

www.christianpost.com

RileyG · 2025-05-05T17:22:57-0500

Michie said:
I think I remember that…

It’s odd.

seashale76 · 2025-05-05T20:11:53-0500

Michie said:
Ran across this:

"You don't mean the Catholics; you mean the fake news media," he added. "The Catholics loved it."

Trump clarified that he had "nothing to do with it."

"Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That's not me that did it. I have no idea who it came from. Maybe it was [Artificial Intelligence]," he added.

Continued below.

Trump defends White House account sharing photo of him dressed like pope: 'Did it in fun'

President Donald Trump is insisting that people offended by an image he shared on social media portraying himself as the pope can t take a joke

www.christianpost.com

How odd- since Trump is the one who posted this on his personal account and then the White House reposted it. I believe he didn't make the AI image- however- he certainly posted it. He needs to stop lying.

RileyG · 2025-05-05T20:14:24-0500

seashale76 said:
How odd- since Trump is the one who posted this on his personal account and then the White House reposted it. I believe he didn't make the AI image- however- he certainly posted it. He needs to stop lying.

Only by a miracle of grace, I hope he has a true come to Jesus moment.

Michie · 2025-05-05T20:17:14-0500

While Trump's meme drew dismay from conservative Catholics, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who told reporters in Rome that "it wasn't good," some also suggested that the outrage Hochul, Lieu and other Democrats expressed was selective and fake, noting the litany of anti-Catholic incidents and sentiment during the Biden administration that went without criticism.

Continued below.

Democrats accused of hypocrisy for slamming Trump 'pope' meme

New York Gov Kathy Hochul and Rep Ted Lieu, D-Calif , were among the Democrats who drew accusations of hypocrisy for expressing outrage at an AI-generated meme of President Donald Trump as pope,

www.christianpost.com

RileyG · 2025-05-05T21:36:50-0500

Michie said:
UPDATE: Trump dismisses criticism of AI image of him as pope

Trump, who frequently shares memes of himself on social media, posted the image to Truth Social on Friday after joking that he would like to be chosen as the next pope.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Of course he does. Surprise, surprise!

Michie · 2025-05-05T21:40:44-0500

RileyG said:
Of course he does. Surprise, surprise!

You know you’re completely shocked Riley. At least he is not threatening to shove his rosary beads down your throat.

In a news release, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, called the image “dumb, but not bigoted.”

“What Trump did was silly, but it was hardly an expression of bigotry,” Donohue said. “We deal with real cases of anti-Catholicism at the Catholic League, not junior-league pranks.”

CatholicVote’s vice president Joshua Mercer — whose organization ran advertisements for Trump in the last election — said in a statement that the image is “obviously intended to be humorous.”

“There is no need to imagine that he believes he could be pope, or that he intended to mock the papacy,” Mercer said. “Memes depicting famous people as the new pope have been playfully circulating on social media everywhere for the past week.”

RileyG · 2025-05-05T21:41:58-0500

Michie said:
You know you’re completely shocked Riley.

In a news release, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, called the image “dumb, but not bigoted.”

“What Trump did was silly, but it was hardly an expression of bigotry,” Donohue said. “We deal with real cases of anti-Catholicism at the Catholic League, not junior-league pranks.”

CatholicVote’s vice president Joshua Mercer — whose organization ran advertisements for Trump in the last election — said in a statement that the image is “obviously intended to be humorous.”

“There is no need to imagine that he believes he could be pope, or that he intended to mock the papacy,” Mercer said. “Memes depicting famous people as the new pope have been playfully circulating on social media everywhere for the past week.”

Dumb? That’s fair enough.

I always admired Bill Donahue. He says it like it is!

Michie · 2025-05-05T21:44:16-0500

RileyG said:
Dumb? That’s fair enough.

I always admired Bill Donahue. He says it like it is!

Most people don’t these days.

Catholic leaders respond to President Trump over AI image of himself as pope

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