Catholic Bishops Flame Trump for Mocking Pope in Crazy Post

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Daily Beast

Updated May 3 2025 4:39PM EDT
Published May 3 2025 4:33PM EDT


New York’s Catholic bishops—led by Trump‘s favorite cardinal—sharply rebuked the president over an AI-generated photo he posted of himself as pope.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the New York Catholic Conference of Bishops said in a post on X Saturday. “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 White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the bishops’ statement.

Trump, a non-Catholic, posted an AI-generated photo of himself in papal white robes and a gilded mitre to Truth Social on Friday. The White House’s official X account later shared the post. Asked earlier this week who should replace the late Pope Francis, who died last month, Trump joked that it should be him.

However, he later suggested that it could be New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. “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,” he told reporters earlier this week. Dolan is the leader of New York’s conference of bishops, which condemned Trump over the post. The 75-year-old cardinal has long been an ally of Trump.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/catholic-bishops-flame-trump-for-mocking-pope-in-crazy-post/

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Link to tweet

NYS Catholic Conference
@NYSCatholicConf
·
Follow
There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. 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 White House
@WhiteHouse
Image
7:53 AM · May 3, 2025

[multigraincracker]

1. This will be interesting. The Bishops will

Command their Flock to dump grump and he will direct maga to change churches.

[Jakes Progress]

29. Dolan will bend the knee.

If he has given up on his dedication to a Christ-like life enough to support trump, he lacks the moral rigor to resist fame and power. It's a shame.

[Marcuse]

40. An AI image of Cardinal Dolan (L) being tempted by trump.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. TSF may have delusions about being the Pope of MAGA,

but he's rejected by the Catholics, a very large and influential voting block.

To paraphrase the Japanese at the bombing of Pearl Harbor, TSF may have awakened The Sleeping Giant.

[Permanut]

3. According to the Washington Post exit polls, Catholics voted for Trump by a margin of 56%to 41%.

[Aussie105]

4. Can someone do an AI of Trump as Napoleon?

After all, every good mental institution has at least 1 or maybe more Napoleons!

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Somebody did that after he started quoting him

Trump Doubles Down On Ominous Napoleon Quote In Response To Report Administration Is ‘Defying Court Order’

[niyad]

5. I object to the word "joked". The orange creature is incapable of making

a joke, since he is completely devoid of a sense of humour, at least one recognized as such by most people.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Excellent point! A joke, more generally, his idea of something funny would be something that...

Creates danger, hurts others, rewards his evil behavior, and is so disgustingly debased a normal person would be repulsed by it.

The minds of psychopaths are never anything but full of perverse incomprehensible destruction. They're sick.

❤️

[Linda ladeewolf]

23. Trump sounds like he has serious delusions

And is now trying to equate himself with a holy person, or being gods right hand man. I’ve actually seen something like this before. It was not pleasant to deal with.

[slightlv]

36. I agree, except to point out he has already

compared himself to a new christ on earth. Further, he stated he's never done anything wrong for which he'd need to ask forgiveness from God. And he's supported in his view of being the Savior by those churchy people who surround him. Why wouldn't he see himself as Pope? If you've stated you're better than christ, it's no leap at all to want to lead billions of people in a religion. In fact, I can see that dovetailing quite nicely with what the Dominionists have planned for us in their theocracy!

[Skittles]

6. always strange, what offends them and what does not

[Historic NY]

8. St. UPID

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dwaduijo6ngdgzmir5vovzrh/bafkreiaigvydculhw5heg4ilwrtui3nmuk7zc2nrp7g3wx3pmb4maa3rfi@jpeg]

[wolfie001]

12. Brilliant!

[Scrivener7]

10. Bet it doesn't turn Catholics against him, though.

I say that as a product of 16 years of Catholic schools. And PS, Dolan is creepy and corrupt AF.

[yardwork]

11. I hope every Catholic in the world sees this.

Especially my MAGA in-laws.

[wolfie001]

13. Has this bloated pig said anything on the subject?

He's older than he looks because he's been a physical wreck his whole life feeding on carbs and hate but, he still leads the catholic League

[Botany]

14. But they will still vote Republican because of abortion.

And urge their parishioners to do the same too.

[Orrex]

24. Ironic, because the number of Trump-coerced abortions is likely not zero

[Old Crank]

15. They own this.

I don't feel sorry for the Catholic church. He is their baby. They have spent years tearing down Democratic candidates over one issue only. They supported a known criminal con man who oozes hate from every pore. The imperfect vessel to get what they want. The Catholic leaders in teh US brought this on themselves. sucks to be them.

[twodogsbarking]

16. Thanks for stating this. It is strictly forbidden you know.

Better put a mattress in the attic, just in case.

[Old Crank]

22. Unfortunately for me

We have no attic.....

[Firestorm49]

17. "Thou shall not lie" is a disqualifier for his papal ambitions - along with the other nine of course.

[Wiz Imp]

28. Why? The 2 most prominent American Cardinals are massive liars themselves and they will be part of the conclave.

[ShazzieB]

34. Yeah, that's irrelevant.

But leaving that aside....even if he was Catholic, I'm sure the very publicly and vociferously NONcelebate Trump would not be a candidate for the priesthood, much less the papacy.

[Wiz Imp]

39. I agree. Just wanted to point out there are definitely Cardinals in the conclave he don't give a damn about

people lying since they do it so freely themselves. Not to mention the many Cardinals who have been proven to be perfectly OK with child molestation by Catholic Priests.

[ShazzieB]

42. Yeah, I hear you on all of that.

I was momentarily so stunned at the idea of a multiply married, multiply cheating on each of his wives, colossally narcissistic, non Catholic like Sclump suggesting even in jest that he should be pope that I couldn't see past the absurdity of that for a while there.

What's really ironic is that Schlump has no earthly idea what the pope even does and would be bored silly within fifteen minutes. When he looks at the pope, all he sees is "power." The idea that the position actually comes with rules, responsibilities, and restrictions would blow his tiny mind.

[JohnnyRingo]

18. He just submarined Cardinal Dolan's chances of being Pope..

I hope he calls and thanks him.

[John1956PA]

19. U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops supported G. W. Bush in 2004.

The conference did so in a manner just subtle enough to avoid jeopardizing the hallowed tax-exempt status of the church. The platform of the conference, as I remember it, fostered "tort-reform" which would shield the church from lawsuits from victims of abuse. I stopped being a practicing Catholic at that time.

[usonian]

20. Of course, he was "only joking". He's always "only joking" when caught in blasphemy, felony and treason. HE'S THE JOKER.

BEST JOKER EVER.

[Kid Berwyn]

21. Delusions of Grandeur

Which is weird, considering how he is a complete imbecile.

[Bluetus]

25. Does Trump realize that 6 of the 9 SCOTUS Justices are Catholic?

And some, fanatically so. It would be ironic if they ruled against him in important cases because they are so offended by this sort of thing.

And how the F could we have gone from the point where the biggest knock against JFK in 1960 was "Can we take the chance of having a Catholic as President?" to now with 2/3 of the highest court being Catholic?

And let's observe that only 20% of the country call themselves Catholics, meaning that more like 5-10% are actually practicing, yet they control the highest court in the land !?

[Diamond_Dog]

26. He sure has a knack for insulting everybody.

Just what we need in a President.



I wonder what Shady Vance has to say about this non funny “joke.” Although he seems to think things are funny when they’re not, too.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. That makes Mar-A-Lago a Papal resort. Is this a tax exempt scheme?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

30. 'Do not mock us': Trump scolded by Catholic bishops over AI pope picture

I am Jewish and I was offended by this picture

'Do not mock us': Trump scolded by Catholic bishops over AI pope picture

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-05-03T19:00:14.982Z

Link to tweet

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pope-picture/

Donald Trump was on the receiving end of a rebuke from the New York State Catholic Conference for posting an AI-rendered picture of himself as the pope just as the Congregation of Cardinals begins deliberations on the replacement for the successor of the late Pope Francis.

With the conclave of 133 electors scheduled to meet on May 7th, the president or one of his aides posted the picture on Truth Social which has set off a mini-firestorm even among some of his MAGA supporters with one Trump fan writing, "I love Trump but his post isnt funny. Pretty scary actually."

The Catholic Bishops of New York State agreed.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, they wrote on the @NYSCatholicConf account, "There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. 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."

They then added, "Do not mock us."

Link to tweet

[Deminpenn]

31. The bishops happily encouraged their flocks to vote for Trump

because they wanted to make all abortions illegal and wanted school vouchers for their parochial schools.

Now they are offended their useful idiot photoshopped himself dressed as their pope. Spare me the outrage.

[Montauk6]

35. SAY IT, DEMIN!!!

[DoBW]

32. saw an updated version of Pope Dope

This is much more accurate if they wanna play dress-up

Fixed it.

— Dannie D 🦋 (@dannied.bsky.social) 2025-05-03T23:25:30.977Z

[BumRushDaShow]

33. That is rolling around on social media

Found an image that would display on DU -

[Cha]

38. That's more like it.

[Cha]

37. Yeah, & the Unholiness Turd Reich was there Sleeping &

texting in the Front Row.

What the Ugly Fuck!

[Bozvotros]

41. Hey Daily Beast!

You didn't actually write that Trump was a non-catholic did you? That implies that he might have a different faith. That's bullshit. You should have said Trump is a non-religious materialistic narcissist who especially enjoys conning Christians and has never read any spiritual text because he only believes in himself and what he wants. There. Fixed it for you.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

43. Maddow Blog-Many Catholic leaders weren't amused by Trump's 'joke' about becoming pope

When the president isn't using faith as a sword against his perceived political foes, he’s using it as a punch line to an unnecessary joke.

"The Italian newspaper La Repubblica featured the image on its homepage, alongside commentary accusing Trump of 'pathological megalomania'..."

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Rachel Maddow (@maddow.msnbc.com) 2025-05-05T19:27:35.070Z

"The Italian newspaper La Repubblica featured the image on its homepage, alongside commentary accusing Trump of 'pathological megalomania'..."

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/many-catholic-leaders-werent-amused-trumps-joke-becoming-pope-rcna204788

The comments raised a few eyebrows and generated a weird tweet from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, but the story quickly faded.

That is, until Trump and the White House started leaning into the joke. The New York Times reported:

He took the joke a step further on Saturday, sharing on social media what appeared to be an A.I.-generated photo of himself wearing the traditional vestments of the pope. The photo depicts him in a white cassock with a cross around his neck, his face solemn as he raises a pointed finger. The origins of the photo were not immediately clear, and Mr. Trump did not include any commentary in his post. He shared the image on Truth Social, Instagram and X, and the White House reposted it on its official Instagram and X accounts.

Just so we’re all clear, Trump isn’t Catholic. Even if he were, there is no scenario in which he’d be considered for a leadership position at the Vatican. Given the circumstances, this is a deeply strange attempt at humor, which hasn’t been well received among many in the church.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the New York State Catholic Conference said in an online statement. “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.”.....

Meanwhile, James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is editor-at-large for the Jesuit publication America Magazine, added that “even though I find this deeply offensive, I will presume that Mr. Trump meant this light-heartedly.” Martin went on to note, however, “But imagine the incandescent outrage, the swift condemnation, and the individual and joint protests from the US bishops if this had been done by Joe Biden or Barack Obama.”.....

Either way, Trump occasionally likes to present himself as leading some kind of religious revival in the United States, but the fact remains that when he’s not using faith as a sword against his perceived political foes, he’s using it as a punch line to an unnecessary joke.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. He's now denying he had anything to do with it!

'They can't take a joke': Trump says he knew 'nothing' about AI image of him as the pope

[raging moderate]

45. This mocking of Pope Francis PROVES that Trump and his right-wingers have NO EMPATHY.

Pope Francis died very recently, after a very bad illness, while behaving very bravely. His suffering was obvious in all recent pictures. Most Catholics surely are still grieving for him. I am not a Catholic, but I respect the grief that these people currently are suffering. Trump and his fellow right-wingers are showing that they are incapable of sharing or respecting the feelings of others. May God bless Pope Francis, and may God bless all of you who are grieving for him!