“The Catholics Loved It – My Wife Thought It Was Cute” – Trump Shrugs Off Backlash Over AI Pope Image

US President Donald Trump has addressed the growing backlash over an AI-generated image depicting him dressed as the Pope, which appeared on his Truth Social account last Friday and was later reshared by the official White House account on X. The image drew swift criticism from the Catholic Conference of New York State, which issued a statement condemning the post as disrespectful in light of Pope Francis’s recent death and the upcoming papal conclave. “There is nothing clever or funny about it,” the group stated. “Do not mock us.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, emphasizing Trump’s longstanding support for religious liberty and noting that he had recently traveled to Italy to pay respects to the late pontiff. During a press event at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump was asked about the criticism from Catholic and Christian leaders. He dismissed the controversy, attributing the outrage to media distortion rather than genuine offense. “You don’t mean the Catholics — you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it,” he said.

Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the creation of the image, saying, “Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the Pope and put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it.” He added that he saw the image for the first time on Sunday evening and that his wife found it “cute.” Lightening the mood further, he joked about the notion of becoming Pope himself, asking, “To the best of my knowledge, Popes aren’t big on getting married. Are they? Not that we know of.”

Rejecting claims that the image undermines the credibility of the White House’s online presence, Trump dismissed the concerns altogether. “Give me a break — somebody did it in fun. It’s fun,” he said.