President
Donald Trump is facing fierce backlash from the Catholic community after sharing an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope, just weeks after the death of 88-year-old Pope Francis
It happened on Friday (May 2), that Donald Trump took his Instagram handle to post
the AI generated picture which depicted him as the pope.
The picture showcased the President's face wearing a normal frab with a large gold cross necklace. Donald Trump who never stays even a hand away from controversies has once again engaged in one and has raised the eyebrows of people, and especially Catholics, worldwide.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump)
On Saturday (May 3), the New York State Catholic Conference spoke out on X and said:
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried
our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”
https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1918785538959573006
The US Vice President, JD Vance, who himself is a Catholic, addressed the critical people on social media regarding the picture that the President shared and said -
“As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen.”
Besides, JD Vance was also among those people who was last seen with the Pope. He met the spiritual leader for a brief moment on Easter Sunday. After the Pope's death, internet erupted with theories that the VP might have something to do with Pope Francis's death.
As mentioned, the AI Generated photo which Donald Trump arrived weeks
after Pope Francis’ passing. In February 2025, Pope Francis had suffered a “respiratory crisis.” On February 22, sources stated that he news about the 88-year-old, who was already going through a chronic damage removed a part of his lung at a young age only.
Though latter it was updated that the Pope was “not in danger of death,” but also not completely “out of danger.” A couple of weeks after being hospitalized that too in a very critical condition the pope shared his first message.
On the morning of February 23,
the spiritual leader of nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics worldwide took to X to share it. He wrote:
“I have recently received many messages of affection, and I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children. Thank you for your closeness, and for the consoling prayers I have received from all over the world!”
Consequently a week after his address,
Pope Francis suffered another acute respiratory crisis and eventually about 7 weeks later, on April 21, he died. According to an official death certificate shared by the Vatican, the 88-year-old pope died due to a stroke and irreversible heart failure.
