The US president, Donald Trump, published on Friday (02.05.2025) an image, apparently generated with artificial intelligence (AI), in which he appears dressed as the Pope, after saying that he would like to be the Catholic pontiff a few days before the conclave that will choose Francisco’s successor.
At the beginning of the week, the Republican tycoon joked about the election of the next leader of the 1.4 billion faithful of the Catholic Church, a religious minority in the United States.
Trump’s image appears while the Catholic Church awaits the celebration of the conclave that will choose the new Pontiff, next Wednesday, after the death of Pope Francis at 88 last Monday, April 21, and two days after the president suggested that he would be a good option to occupy the throne of St. Peter.
“I would like to be a potato. That would be my number one option. I think it would be a great Pope. No one would do it better than me,” Trump said Wednesday from the White House.
With this image, Trump again generates controversy, since at the funeral of Pope Francis, last Saturday in the Vatican, the protocol jumped by attending dressed in blue and not black, as the tradition dictates in these cases.
The color photo spread by Trump shows it sitting with solemn air in an armchair, dressed in the papal white cassock, crowned with the miter and wearing the imposing Golden Cross. He has the left hand resting on the thigh and the right index raised to the sky.
The image, apparently generated with AI according to the American media that have republished it in their social networks, is not accompanied by any comment from the Republican.
About 20% of Americans declare themselves Catholics and urn foot surveys indicated in last November presidentials that around 60% had voted for Trump.
As of May 7, 133 Cardinals around the world, under 80 years of age, will meet in a closed -closed -door conclave in the Vatican to choose Francisco’s successor, the first Latin American pontiff.
JC (AFP, EFE)
