Catholic cardinals on Thursday elected a new pope—and it’s not Donald Trump.
After Pope Francis died, Trump joked that he would “like to be pope,” and even posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed in papal garb.
Trump’s comments angered Catholicswho demanded an apology from Trump for making a joke of a sad and solemn moment for their church as they mourned Francis and awaited a decision on who would fill the powerful position next.
“This is deeply offensive to Catholics especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the election of our new Pope. He owes an apology,” Thomas Paprocki, bishop of Springfield, Illinois, wrote in a post on X.
Of course the non-Catholic Trump was never going to be pope, but that didn’t stop his most devoted sycophants—including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee— from touting him as a candidate for the next supreme pontiff.
Now that Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago has been selected as the first American pope in historythe least Trump could do is try to get off on the right foot with the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Trump congratulated Prevost—who will be known as Pope Leo XIV—in a Truth Social post.
“Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope,” Trump wrote. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Related | Holy disrespect: Trump’s arrogance has Catholics steaming
Trump and the late Pope Francis did not have a good relationship.
In 2016, when Trump was first running for office, Francis said Trump was “not Christian” if he wanted to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
In 2017, Francis doubled down on that stance.
“In the social and civil context as well, I appeal not to create walls but to build bridges,” the pope said at an event. “To not respond to evil with evil. To defeat evil with good, the offense with forgiveness. A Christian would never say ‘you will pay for that.’ Never.”
Upon Trump’s unfortunate return to the White House, Francis once again slammed his immigration policy, and even dressed down Vice President JD Vance in the last moments of his life.
“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,” Francis wrote in his Easter message that was delivered by someone else, as a very ill Francis died the next morning. “On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!” the pope proclaimed.
It looks like the Trump administration will also have some work to do with the newly minted pope.
Leo XIV posted an article to X about Vance and criticized the vice president’s comments about protectionism and the treatment of immigrants.
“JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” Leo XIV wrote, quoting the headline from the article.
Leo XIV also retweeted an article that criticized Trump’s decision to deport immigrants to a notorious Salvadoran prison. In fact, he’s repeatedly been critical of Trump and Vance on social media.
Trump, for his part, never said who he wanted to be pope out of the list of men rumored to have been in contention.
When asked by reporters at the White House, Trump said he had “no preference” for who the pope should be, but did tout Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who serves as Archbishop of New York.
But maybe it was for the best that Trump did not weigh in on any of the top contenders, as the president has proven to be a problem for aspiring leaders of foreign nations.
Canadians and Australians both voted against the conservative parties in recent elections, even as their far-right politicians embraced Trump.
For example Peter Dutton, the leader of Australia’s center-right party who had even adopted some of Trump’s anti-woke rhetoric, not only saw his party get drubbed at the ballot box but lost his own seat in parliament.
The very same thing happened to Canada’s Stone, who led Canada’s Conservative Party to a stunning defeat and lost his parliament seat as well.
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