White House defends AI image of Donald Trump as Pope: ‘A champion for Catholics’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when asked about the AI-generated image of Donald Trump dressed as the pope, defended the President, saying he had traveled to Italy to attend Pope Francis' funeral and "has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty."

Leavitt said, “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 image, posted to Trump's Truth Social account and later reposted by the White House on X, drew sharp criticism from Catholic leaders and Italian officials.

US Bishops condemn the image

The New York State Catholic Conference called the post offensive. "There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President," the bishops' group said. "We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave. Do not mock us."

Italian ex-Premier Matteo Renzi slammed the image as "shameful," writing on X: "This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around."

The Vatican declined to comment through spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Trump jokes about becoming Pope

The meme followed Trump’s earlier comments this week joking about becoming pope himself.

“I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,” Trump said, despite reportedly not being Catholic.

The quip sparked a mix of amusement and outrage online. Senator Lindsey Graham added to the mockery, posting: “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope... Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”

Vice President JD Vance joined in too, joking that Secretary of State Marco Rubio might make a good pope.

Trump endorses Cardinal Dolan—but hurts his chances

Trump also casually endorsed Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as a possible papal candidate.

“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,” he said.

However, Vatican insiders cautioned that such public support could harm Dolan’s prospects.

A history of tension with Francis

Though Trump attended Pope Francis' funeral, tensions between the two figures were well documented. Pope Francis had previously condemned Trump’s immigration policies, especially mass deportations.

In one of his final public statements before his hospitalisation, Pope Francis also took aim at Vice President Vance’s theological defense of deportation.