President Trump on Tuesday had a ready answer when reporters asked who he would like to see become the next supreme pontiff. “I’d like to be pope,” he joked to reporters at the White House. “That would be my number one choice.”
He took the joke a step further on Saturday, sharing what appeared to be an A.I.-generated photo of himself wearing the traditional vestments of the Pope on social media. The photo depicts him in a white cassock with a cross around his neck, his face solemn as he raises a pointed finger.
The origins of the photo were not immediately clear, and Mr. Trump did not include any commentary in his post. He shared the image on Truth Social, Instagram and X, and the White House reposted it on its official Instagram and X accounts.
The idea of “Pope Trump,” as some people called it, was immediately polarizing. Some religious people, including Catholics, did not see the humor in it, calling the photo offensive, at a time when millions of people were still mourning Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday. Several commenters on Truth Social, which is run by a company controlled by Mr. Trump, called the post sacrilegious and said it fueled misinformation.
Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee, said posting the photo during a period of mourning was evidence that Mr. Trump was “unserious and incapable.”
But some conservative Republicans have been playing along with the president’s joke this week. Among them was Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope,” he said Tuesday in a post on X. “The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides,” he added. “Watching for white smoke … Trump MMXXVIII!”
The Vatican, which is deep in preparations for the election of Pope Francis’s successor, could not immediately be reached for comment on the image.
It is not the first time that Mr. Trump has shared polemical content that appeared to be generated with artificial intelligence. In February, he posted a video that depicted the Gaza Strip reimagined as an opulent resort emblazoned with his name. A representative for the Hamas-run government in Gaza called the video “disgraceful.”
After his jest to reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Trump, who has significantly expanded the influence of conservative Christians in the White House, said he had no strong preference for pope. But then he pointed to the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as one of his favorite candidates. Cardinal Dolan is not among the front-runners that have emerged to be the next pope, who will be elected at a conclave that begins Wednesday.