President Trump shared an AI-generated image portraying himself as the leader of the Catholic Church, coinciding with the Vatican’s conclave to select the next pope beginning next week. On Friday evening, the U. S. president posted the image on his official Truth Social account, the social-media platform operated by Trump Media & Technology Group, without any accompanying comment or context. The origin of the image remains unclear. (See the full image below. ) Trump had previously joked about wanting to be the next pope following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 at age 88. “I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice, ” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, April 29. He then added somewhat more seriously, “No, I don’t know, I have no preference. I must say we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who is very good. So we’ll see what happens. ” Trump was referring to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, whom the president appointed on May 1 to the White House’s newly established Religious Liberty Commission.

At a Rose Garden event on Thursday, Trump commented on the commission, saying, “They say separation between church and state…I said, ‘All right, let’s forget about that for one time. ’” Following Trump’s tongue-in-cheek remark about wanting to be pope, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S. C. ) responded on X, writing, “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!The first Pope-U. S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!” Trump, along with other world leaders, attended Pope Francis’ funeral last Saturday (April 26) in Rome. Viral images on social media suggested that Trump fell asleep during the service; however, Snopes debunked this, stating “the video coverage indicates otherwise. ” The Vatican conclave, scheduled to begin on May 7, will feature 133 Cardinal electors, marking the first time the number exceeds 120, according to Vatican News. Trump has stated that although he was “confirmed at a Presbyterian church as a child, I now consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian. ”