Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, center, leaves at the end of a mass on the eight of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Saturday, May 3, 2025.Alessandra Tarantino/AP
The White House has dropped a new trolling tactic—and many Catholics are not laughing.
Less than two weeks after the death of Pope Francis, on Friday, the White House reposted on X a seemingly AI-generated meme that Trump shared on Truth Social of himself as the pope. In the eyes of many Catholics, Trump, who was raised Presbyterian and more recently said he’s a non-denominational Christian, has committed a grave act of blasphemy by posting the image.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the New York State Catholic Conference, a policy and lobbying organization, posted on X. “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.” Dennis Poust, executive director of the Conference, told the New York Times the post was “disrespectful,” adding, “It’s never appropriate to ridicule or mock the papacy.”
When reporters asked about the image, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, replied, “I hope he didn’t have anything to do with that,” referring to the creation of the image. (It was not immediately clear who made the image.) Dolan added, “It wasn’t good.”
Responding to general questions before Mass at his titular church this morning in Rome, Cardinal Dolan spoke about President Trump‘s post on social media dressed as a pope. @thegnewsroom pic.twitter.com/sF1zshVTP3
— Mary Shovlain (@maryshovlain) May 4, 2025
Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chairman and a devout Catholic, wrote on X that the post “affirms how unserious and incapable he is. At 78 he remains a 10yo child, emotionally scarred and broken while desperate to prove he could be somebody. His problem: he can’t grow up to prove it.”
Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director during Trump’s first term, who is also Catholic, wrote over the White House’s X post: “You are trolling and trying to trigger all of us. Especially us Catholics. But the arrogance and general stupidity and the disgrace that you represent will blow back on all of you.” Scaramucci followed up Saturday night with another post: “The dope of dopes not a pope.”
Major Catholic organizations including the US Conference for Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Relief Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Mother Jones on Sunday morning. The Vatican also did not immediately respond.
The post came a few days after Trump told reporters at the White House, “I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice.” But he appeared to acknowledge he was joking, subsequently saying, “No, I don’t know, I have no preference,” adding, “I must say we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good, so we’ll see what happens,” referring to Dolan.
Trump: "I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice." pic.twitter.com/VHB5VPdoV9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2025
As I previously wrote, a quick look at Trump’s biography shows he does not belong amongst the most revered figures of Catholicism, despite Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) claims otherwise: The man supports the death penalty; has (at least) five kids by three different women; and has been found liable for sexual assault, which he also famously bragged about on tape. The Bible explicitly prohibits all of these actions.
Others in Trump’s orbit, though, appeared to further Trump’s idea, or at least dismiss it as a joke. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), wrote on X: “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!” Juanita Broaddrick, who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault and supported Trump despite his own history, shared a 40-second long AI-generated video purporting to show Trump as pope. “Trump’s latest Epic troll is making the left insane,” she wrote.
Several X users demanded answers from Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic who met with the pope just a day before his death. “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,” he wrote on X Saturday. A few days prior, Vance also joked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking on “pope” as his fifth title.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mother Jones. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told some reporters that Trump “has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.” The papal conclave to decide the next pope will begin on May 7. Given the requirements—which include being a baptized Catholic and an ordained bishop—you can be sure that Trump will not win this election.
