US President Donald Trump has posted an AI picture of himself as the Pope only a week after the funeral of Pope Francis.
The Republican leader took to Truth Social to post the image, which shows him wearing a white papal hat, also referred to as a miter, while a large crucifix dangles from his neck.
Trump had previously joked with reporters how he wouldn’t be against succeeding the late Catholic leader, adding: ‘I’d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.’
It comes only one week after Pope Francis’ funeral at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City as the conclave now gather to elect a new leader for the Catholic Church.
While chatting on the White House lawn, he revealed he did not have a preference on the next Pope, but quipped there was a ‘very good’ cardinal in New York.
The 88-year-old passed away on Easter Monday after dedicating his ‘entire life’ to serving God and The Church. He spent his final hours with the devoted, emerging to bless thousands of people in St Peter’s Square.
Trump’s post has been met with outrage online with many branding the move as ‘a great disrespect’, urging the US President to remove the post immediately.
‘Trump is literally mocking the Christian world with this image he shared,’ one said: ‘And on a day when Catholics are mourning the death of their spiritual leader, Pope Francis.’
‘Is anyone else surprised that Trump would be so brazenly sacrilegious? Me either. Classless,’ a second said.
‘Trump, as someone outside the U.S., I find your post utterly disrespectful to the Catholic community worldwide,’ a third added.
‘The papacy is a sacred institution for millions, and this mockery is an affront to their beliefs.’
‘Please take this down,’ one follower pleaded: ‘May Catholics myself included, find this a great disrespect to the past and future leader of our church.’
‘Completely disrespectful. The Catholic community is mourning and you post this?’
However it isn’t the only faux-pas the US President has appeared to commit in the wake of the Pontiff’s death, as he was accused of breaking the dress code at Pope Francis’ funeral by wearing a blue suite and tie.
The strict dress code for the funeral at the Vatican dictated that men should wear a dark suit with a long black tie and white shirt. Shoes, long socks, coats and umbrellas also had to be black.
The president, who sat in the front row of hundreds of foreign dignitaries and royalty, donned a mid-blue outfit, adorned with a pin showing the American flag, which he paired with a shiny blue tie.
Traditionally, smart, dark outfits are worn out of a sign of respect – a practice adopted by many of the gathered mourners, inluding Sir Keir Starmer.
Melania, sitting beside her husband on her 55th birthday, could be seen pairing a conservative black coat with a lace veil and gloves.
Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelensky wore no tie, while Joe Biden also wore a blue tie. All three were accused of showing ‘disrespect’ because the majority of world leaders were dressed all in black.
During the Pontiff’s funeral, Zelensky and Trump spoke face to face for the first time since their disastrous White House clash earlier this year, which had threatened to destroy diplomatic relations between the US and Ukraine.
The outcome was dubbed Pope Francis’ ‘final miracle’ as the US President dramatically turned against tyrant Vladimir Putin following their discussions in the Vatican.
The US President accused the Russian despot of ‘stringing him along’ over Ukraine peace talks – as Trump’s fury over Russia’s latest deadly missile strikes against Kyiv boiled over.
And in a remarkable warming of relations, the 78-year-old billionaire embraced Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a fleeting meeting in the Vatican ahead of the funeral of the late Pontiff.
‘It was also moving to see what they are now calling ‘Pope Francis’s miracle’ with Trump and Zelensky meeting, there’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming,’ Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News.
Talks between the Ukrainian and American leaders were ‘very productive’, according to White House communications director Steven Cheung, with Zelensky later taking to X echoing his hopes for ‘results’ on their discussions.
‘Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,’ he wrote: ‘Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.’
And later, in a furious broadside against Putin, Trump accused the Russian of trying to scupper peace talks with his repeated onslaught against Ukraine.
‘There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently,’ the American leader raged in a post on Truth Social today.
Trump – who later landed back in America with his wife Melania, said the US had to deal ‘differently’ with the Kremlin’ either via ‘banking’ and ‘secondary sanctions.’
‘Too many people are dying!!!’ he wrote, referring to the Russian military strikes on Kyiv last week which left 12 dead, and several building destroyed.
Further sanctions on Russia may be a possibility following a related bill received agreement from 25 Republicans and Democrats, respectively, in the Senate last week.
Trump’s suggestion Putin doesn’t want the war to end came after the longtime Russian leader welcomed US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow. Witkoff was reportedly there to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine.
However, following these talks, a defiant Zelensky doubled down on Crimea, rejecting any suggestion Ukraine will hand over the region to the Kremlin.
The territory was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and Ukraine feared that America could strong-arm Ukraine into handing it over to the Kremlin as part of a peace deal.
But Zelensky has remained steadfast the territory belongs to the Ukrainian people, insisting their ‘position is unchanged’, adding: ‘The constitution of Ukraine says that all the temporarily occupied territories… belong to Ukraine.’
It comes as the cardinals of the Catholic Church held their ninth in a series of near-daily meetings at the Vatican ahead of the election of a new pope today.
The closed-door ‘general congregations’ allow them to discuss the challenges the new pontiff will face before they are locked into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for the vote.
Walking through crowds of pilgrims and journalists for the morning meeting, the so-called ‘Princes of the Church’ gave little away – not even speculating how long the conclave would last.
‘We do not know, we just wait for the Lord to tell us,’ said Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, Archbishop of Singapore, seen as one of the more conservative prelates.
The cardinals were called to Rome from around the world after the death on April 21 of Pope Francis, an energetic reformer from Argentina who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.
On Wednesday, 133 of them will enter the Sistine Chapel and not leave until they have – after a series of secret ballots – given a two-thirds majority to Francis’ successor.
‘We recognise his achievement but no pope is perfect, no one is able to do everything so we will find the best person to succeed St Peter,’ Goh told reporters.
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, said he hoped the conclave would choose a pope to follow in Francis’ progressive footsteps.
‘We must discover the one the Lord has already chosen,’ he said.
‘We could have had much more time praying together, but I am sure that at the right moment we will be ready and we will give the Church the pope that the Lord has wanted.’