President Donald Trump posted an image of an artificial intelligence-generated dressing to the Pope just days before he elected his successor as Pope Francis lamented. Trump’s actions sparked responsibilities between Catholic bishops and Italians in New York from a group representing Catholic bishops.
The image was shared on Trump Truth social sites on Friday night and later reposted on the official X account by the White House, raising eyebrows on social media and the Vatican. The Vatican is currently undergoing official mourning nine days after Francis’ death on April 21st.
The death of the Pope and another election are the most rigorous issues for Catholics, whose Pope is the pastor of Christ on Earth. That’s even more true in Italy. There, even secular Italians have received high praise for the Pope.
The image featuring a white cassock and pointed miter, or playing cards in a bishop’s hat, was the topic of a few questions during Saturday’s Vatican’s daily conclave briefing. News reports from Italy and Spain lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive given that an official period of mourning is still ongoing.
The left-leaning former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that angers followers, humiliates the institutions, and shows that right-wing world leaders enjoy clowns,” writes Lenzi of X.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to comment.
In the United States, the New York State Catholic Congress, which represents the state bishops working with the government, accused Trump of laughing.
“There’s nothing clever or interesting about this image,” they wrote. “We have just buried our beloved Pope Francis and Cardinals are about to enter a strict conclave to elect a new successor to St. Peter. Don’t laugh at us.”
Italy’s left-leaning La Republica was published on Saturday with a commentary denounced the image on its homepage as “pathological exaggeration.”
The White House did not immediately answer questions about backlash against the image or why the president shared the image.
This episode comes after Trump joked about his interest in the vacant seats last week. “I want to be the Pope. That’s probably my number one choice,” the three-time non-Catholic married president told reporters.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump’s close ally, has been stacked up.
“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea that he is the next Pope. This is a truly dark horse candidate, but Pope Conclave and Catholics ask him to open up about this possibility!” Graham, Rs.C. writes to X:
Vice President JD Vance, who was Catholic and one of the last foreigners to meet Francis before the Pope passed away, also joked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio becoming Pope, suggesting that Rubio could add it to the long list of titles he has, including national security advisers and proxy archivists.
Beyond floating himself for work, Trump put a plug on Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.
“I have no preference. I have to say we have a cardinal that happens to be in a place called New York.
Dolan, 75, is one of the 10 US Cards to vote for the Conclave, but Trump’s pitch could potentially be supported by Dolan.
The reason the good is kept secret is that the cardinals are quarantined, preventing external secular forces from affecting their choices, as has occurred over the centuries.
There are old proverbs about campaigning for the Pope’s work and being overly promoted, especially by outsiders.
While Trump attended Francis’ funeral, he and Vance clashed with us in general, and with the bishops with Francis in particular, about Hardline’s stance on immigration in particular, and with their efforts to expel immigrants in large numbers. Just before he was hospitalized in February for pneumonia, Francis gave strong responsibilities about the administration’s plan for expelling the U.S. and theological justification of Vance.
For more than 12 years as Pope, Francis tried to remake the Catholic hierarchy of the United States with his image. He raised the pastor who prioritized social justice and immigration issues over his predecessors of more doctrines, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. A new, more conservative pope can reverse that effort.
Trump has appointed the sacred holy Brian Burch ambassador to see Brian Burch, who has actively covered the pre-conclub era in the Vatican. This was one of the leading propagandists of the English-speaking media in the report, firmly and officially rejected by the Vatican, that Cardinal Parolin had had a health fear that required medical consultations over the past week.
Parolyn is Secretary of State under Francis and is considered a leading candidate for the Pope. He is also a leading architect of the Vatican Chinese policy and is a contract with Beijing with the controversial 2018 bishop’s nomination. This is a deal that was heavily criticised by the first Trump administration.
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