The New York State Catholic Convention, which represents the bishops of the state in working with authorities, accused Donald Trump of mockery after the White Home posted a synthetic intelligence-generated picture of the president dressed as pope.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the Catholic Bishops of New York State 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.”
There may be nothing intelligent or humorous about this picture, Mr. President. We simply buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a brand new successor of St. Peter. Don’t mock us. https://t.co/ortxbkDlT5
— NYS Catholic Convention (@NYSCatholicConf) Might 3, 2025
Requested to reply to the criticism, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that, “President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects for Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.”
The publish comes days after Trump joked with reporters that he wish to be the following pope. Past floating himself for the job, Trump additionally has put in a plug for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.
“I have no preference. I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out a place called New York who’s very good. So we’ll see what happens,” the president stated.
Dolan, 75, is one in all 10 U.S. cardinals who will probably be voting within the conclave, however Trump’s pitch might need price Dolan assist.
The archbishop of New York spoke to reporters in regards to the picture on the Vatican.
“I hope [Trump] didn’t have anything to do with that,” Dolan stated Sunday morning. “It wasn’t good.”
The Vatican continues to be within the interval of 9 days of official mourning following Francis’ dying on April 21. Catholic cardinals have been celebrating each day Plenty in his reminiscence and are because of open the conclave to elect his successor on Wednesday.