New York – President Trump posted An image generated by Ai-Ai-Homis in Pope While Pope Francis’s mourning continues and a few days before the conclave to elect his successor should begin. Trump’s action has shot a group from a group representing Catholic bishops in New York and among Italians.
The image, shared Friday evening on Trump’s social media site and republished by the White House by the White House on its official account X, sparked criticism on social networks and to the Vatican, which is still in the period of nine days of official mourning after Francis’ death on April 21. The Catholic cardinals celebrated the daily masses in his memory and should open the conclave for the election of his successor on Wednesday.
The death of a pope and the election of another are questions of greater solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is the vicar of Christ on earth. This is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by non -religious Italians.
The image featuring Trump in a white quarry and a pointed miter, or the Bishop hat, was the subject of several questions during the daily briefing of the Vatican on Saturday. Italian and Spanish reports deplored his bad taste and said he was offensive, since the official mourning period was still underway.
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that offers believers, insults institutions and shows that the head of the right world benefits from the clown,” wrote Renzi on X. “Meanwhile, the American economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. Sovereigns does damage, everywhere.”
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni refused to comment.
In the United States, the Catholic Conference of New York State, which represents the bishops of the State by working with the government, accused Trump of mockery.
“There is nothing intelligent or funny in this image, Mr. President”, ” They wrote. “We have just built our beloved pope François and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor from Saint-Pierre. Don’t make fun of us. “
The Repubblica, of the Italian left, presented the image on her home page on Saturday with a comment accusing Trump of “pathological megalomania”.
The White House did not immediately answer questions on the back of the image generated by artificial intelligence or why the president had shared it.
The episode comes after Trump joked last week on his interest in the papal vacancy. “I would like to be pope.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, has stacked.
“I was delighted to learn that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next pope. It would really be a black horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and the Catholic faithful to keep an open mind on this possibility! ” Graham (Rs.C.) wrote on x. “The first combination of the president of the Pope-US has many advantages. Looking for white smoke. … Trump MMXXVIII!”
Vice-president JD Vance, who is Catholic and was one of the last foreign officials to meet François before the Pope’s death, joking to the secretary of state Marco Rubio Become a pope, suggesting that the first American diplomat could add it to the long list of titles he has, including a national security advisor and an interim archivist.
Beyond himself for work, Trump also put in the mouth for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.
“I have no preference. I must say that we have a cardinal who is in a place called New York which is very good. So we will see what is going on,” he said.
Dolan, 75, is one of the 10 American cardinals who will vote in the conclave, but Trump’s field could have cost Dolan’s support.
The reason why conclaves are held in secret, with cardinals sequestded for duration, is to prevent external secular powers from influencing their choice, as has happened in past centuries.
There is an old saying on the campaign for the work of the Pope or to be excessively promoted, especially by foreigners: if you “enter a conclave as a pope, you leave as a cardinal”.
While Trump attended Francis funeral, he and Vance clashed with American bishops in general and Francis in particular on the hard position of the administration on immigration and his efforts to expel mass migrants. Just before being hospitalized in February for pneumonia, Francis published a strong reprimand of the mass deportation plans of the administration and the theological justification of Vance.
More than 12 years as Pope, Francis has tried to redo more the American Catholic hierarchy in his image, raising pastors who prioritize social justice and the migration problems on the warriors of culture who were more favored by his more doctrinaire predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benoît XVI. A new pope who is more conservative could reverse this effort.
Trump appointed Brian Burch as his ambassador to the Holy See, of which Catholicvote.org Aggressively covered the pre-brewed days in the Vatican. It was one of the main disseminators of English -speaking media in a report, categorically and officially denied by the Vatican, that Cardinal Pietro Parolin had a fear of health last week which required medical care.
Paroline was the Secretary of State under François and is considered a leading competitor like Pope. He is also the main architect of the Chinese Policy of the Vatican and his controversial agreement of 2018 with Beijing on the appointments of the bishops, an agreement which was strongly criticized by the first Trump administration.
Winfield and Colvin write for the Associated Press and reported the city of New York and the Vatican respectively.
