WASHINGTON — President Trump defended the viral picture he posted of himself dressed as the pope — saying on Monday the AI-generated image was a “joke” and that you “have to have a little fun.”
The president, 78, shared the photo on Friday, which shows him wearing a traditional Catholic mitre, cross and white cassock, apparently showing himself as the pontiff as the College of Cardinals get ready to elect a new Holy Father following the death of Pope Francis last month.
“They can’t take a joke,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, claiming those who were outraged were the “fake news media” — not Catholics.
“The Catholics loved it,” he said.
The image, then shared by the official White House X account, sparked some outrage in the Catholic community, with priests commenting about how the post is disrespectful.
“I think it was a bad joke that obviously landed very poorly and was seen as offensive by a lot of Catholics, and I wish he hadn’t done it,” Bishop Robert Barron told EWTN.
“I hope he didn’t have anything to do with that,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan — the Archbishop of New York and a friend of Trump’s — told reporters in Rome on Sunday.
“It wasn’t good.”
Trump attended Pope Francis’ funeral on April 26. The papal conclave will begin on Wednesday as the cardinals meet to secretly elect the 88-year-old’s successor.
The president said he “had nothing to do” with the picture and that he wasn’t the one who put it up on Truth Social.
“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 where it came from,” he claimed.
First lady Melania Trump thought it was “cute,” he added, joking that popes traditionally are not married, which would make it hard for him to have the job.
Last week, Trump joked he “would love to be pope” when asked who he wanted to fill the top Catholic post.
“That would be my number one choice,” he told reporters on the South Lawn on Tuesday.
Vice President JD Vance also has joked he wanted to see Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Catholic, elected pontiff.
