Donald Trump published on his social network on Friday a portrait of him probably generated by artificial intelligence showing him dressed in papal outfit, after having said that he would “like to be pope” a few days before the conclave to the Vatican who will eliminate François’s successor.
The color photo broadcast on Truth Social shows the President of the United States seated the solemn air in an armchair, the closed face, dressed in the pope’s white cassock, wearing the miter, sporting the imposing gold cross around the neck, the left hand placed on its thigh and right index raised to the sky. The photo, visibly generated by AI according to American media which republished it on their corporate accounts, is not accompanied by any comments from the republican billionaire.
“I would like to be pope”
Since his return to the White House on January 20, Donald Trump has saturated the American and world media space with announcements and comments on all subjects. He had joked earlier this week on the election of the next chief of the 1.4 billion Catholics, a religious minority in the United States.
“I would like to be pope. This would be my number one choice, “he said, questioned by journalists about his preferences about the successor to François who died of Easter on Monday at the age of 88.
20% Catholic Americans, 60% of the president’s voters
The day before his death, the Pope had briefly received, on Easter Sunday, the American vice-president JD Vance, a converted Catholic and very conservative, two months after the strong criticism of François against the policy of expulsion of immigrants by the Trump administration. He had warned against a “major crisis” which “starts badly and will end badly”.
-About it: “No peace is possible without real disarmament”: the last political message from Pope Francis
Some 20% of Americans declare themselves Catholics and exit polls of the ballot box had indicated in November that they had voted at around 60% in favor of Donald Trump. Part of this Catholic electorate, especially from Latin America, expresses hope that a more conservative Pope will succeed François considered a progressive on social issues.
From May 7, 133 cardinals from all over the world, aged under the age of 80 and therefore authorized to elect the Pope, will meet for a conclave at the Vatican behind closed doors in order to choose a successor to François.
Our file on this subject: Between peripheries and Rome, the seven cardinals who embody the Church of tomorrow in the conclave
