New York cardinal says Trump AI pope image 'wasn't good'

By Philip Pullella

ROME -U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s posting of an AI-generated photo showing himself as the pope "wasn’t good" but declined to say whether the White House should apologise to offended Catholics.

Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was asked about the post on the sidelines of a Mass he celebrated at a Rome church ahead Wednesday’s start of a conclave where he and other cardinals under the age of 80 will elect a successor to Pope Francis.

Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday, less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month.

The White House then reposted it on its official X account.

"It wasn't good," Dolan said before the Mass in response to a reporter’s question, adding: "I hope he didn’t have anything to do with that."

When a reporter asked if he was offended, Dolan said: "Well, you know, it wasn’t good."

Then, switching to Italian, he said it was a "brutta figura", a colloquial phrase for when someone does something that is embarrassing or makes them look bad.

Asked after the Mass if the post should be taken down and if an apology from Trump or the White House was in order, Dolan said in Italian: “Who knows?” He declined to say anything more about it.

'DO NOT MOCK US'

Trump last week joked with reporters that he would like to be the next pope. He then suggested that Dolan could be a good pick: "I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who's very good, so we’ll see what happens."

Dolan, who was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict in 2012, is seen as a conservative and delivered one of the invocations at Trump’s inauguration in January.

The AI image posted on Friday shows an unsmiling Trump seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with his right forefinger raised.

The irreverent posting drew instant outrage on social media, with the Catholic bishops of New York state expressing their clear displeasure on X.

"There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President," they wrote. "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."

The picture made the front pages of many Italian newspapers on Sunday, with most condemning it or expressing outrage. Some right-wing newspapers said it should be seen as a joke.

Pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday were also divided.

“Did he really post it? He posted that? It's kind of ridiculous but yeah, okay," said Marcella Peixoto of Brazil.

John Smith, an American from California, said: "I think he’s a funny guy, I think he’s trying to be funny and comedy is being lost in the world. I think everyone needs to lighten up and smile like you’re smiling right now".

(Additional reporting by Yesim Dikmen and Leonardo Benassatto; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Andrew Heavens)