Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) / X
CV NEWS FEED // President Donald Trump brushed off media criticism Monday after an AI-generated image portraying him as the Pope went viral, making clear he had no role in its creation.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the Pope, and they put it out on the Internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI.”
The image, which shows Trump in white papal robes, a papal hat, white robes, and a large crucifix, spread rapidly online just days after Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome. The White House’s official X account later reposted the image.
Trump said he first saw the image “last evening” and was surprised.
“Somebody did it in fun…You have to have a little fun, don’t you?” he added, dismissing the controversy as another example of the press lacking a sense of humor.
He noted that Melania found the image “cute,” and recalled her reaction: “She said, ‘Isn’t that nice?’”
In a statement Monday, CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer emphasized the lighthearted nature of the meme and criticized the media’s selective outrage.
“President Trump’s joking meme depicting himself as the pope was obviously intended to be humorous. There is no need to imagine that he believes he could be pope, or that he intended to mock the papacy,” Mercer said.
“Memes depicting famous people as the new pope have been playfully circulating on social media everywhere for the past week. It bears noting that today’s loudest critics were shamefully silent for four years as President Biden, himself a Catholic, was a manifest scandal to the Church.”
“That said, this is a solemn time of prayer and discernment for the whole Catholic Church that should not be diminished,” he added, noting the importance of the upcoming papal conclave. “Everyone understands what happens in Rome in the coming days will have lasting significance for the whole world. The Church has survived far worse over the past two millennia.”
