President Donald Trump‘s second-favorite pick for the papacy has slammed the president for a social media stunt decried by critics as “tasteless” and “deeply offensive” to Catholics.
“Well, you know, it wasn’t good,” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan told a team of reporters ahead of a Sunday Mass in Rome, where next week he will be participating in the conclave to elect a new Holy Father following Pope Francis’ death three weeks ago.
Dolan comments added to the discourse around the AI image Trump and White House social media accounts posted late Friday that depicted the president as pope with a large crucifix around his neck.
While Trump has in recent days spoken openly about his support for Dolan potentially assuming the papacy, he’s also increasingly joked about having his own papal ambitions. Trump quipped to reporters that he was his own “No. 1 choice” to succeed Francis.
Dolan said he believes the Trump still “takes his Christian faith seriously” and he hopes Trump “didn’t have anything to do with” the AI-generated image, which has even sparked backlash from pro-MAGA voices. One conservative X account warned, “you’re going to lose a lot of Catholic support over stunts like this.”
The New York Cardinal joins other high-ranking U.S. members of the Catholic Church condemning the gag—among them Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who wrote in a statement on X that “this is deeply offensive to Catholics[,] especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis.”
Paprocki added, “[Trump] owes an apology.”
Senior members of the GOP have nevertheless rallied around the president. Vice President JD Vance, himself a practicing Catholic, wrote on X that “as a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes” in response to the controversy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who earlier this week called for cardinals at next week’s enclave to “keep an open mind” about Trump’s non-existent pontifical prospects, also joked on Saturday the image was “worth a thousand words” and MAGAists should listen out for “more updates to come.”
However, Trump as pope wasn’t the only White House AI flub to have caused a stir this week. The Pentagon landed in hot water on X after posting a bonkers picture of Pete Hegseth at the southern border. In the photo, he appears to be fending off a trio of nefarious-looking men holding an ever-so-subtly labelled box of “DRUGS.”
The Defense Secretary’s pinky finger was also missing from the image, which included an American flag conspicuously short 18 of its 50 stars and one of 13 stripes.
The photo fail comes on the heels of intensifying scrutiny over Hegseth’s fitness for the job amid several Signalgate scandals.
“Even if you ignore the missing finger, this image makes Hegseth look like he’s the bodyguard for Scary Drugs Men,” wrote one X commentator about the image.
Even if you ignore the missing finger, this image makes Hegseth look like he’s the bodyguard for Scary Drugs Men. https://t.co/SLss1Kac1a
— @red3blog (@red3blog) May 3, 2025
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