Washington/New York, 3 May

US President Donald Trump has posted a seemingly AI generated photo of himself in papal attire on his social media sparking a duelling backlash and praise, Newsweek said on Saturday.

The image, which was also posted from the White House's social media handle, prompted many social media users to call it “cosplaying as the next Pope” comes days after Trump had jokingly said last week that he would be his own “number one choice” for the next pope.

In the Vatican, cardinals are set to begin on 7 May the process to choose a successor to Pope Francis, who died on 21 April. The US president was among the world leaders who attended his funeral at St Peter's Square on 26 April.

The president posted the picture at 10.29 pm Friday, without a caption or comment. “The post immediately garnered positive and negative reaction online,” Newsweek said adding, it reached out to the Vatican via email soon after.

Earlier on 29 April, Trump told a television reporter: “I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice.”

When asked who should replace Francis, Trump said, “I have no preference,” but added: “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.”

Meanwhile, Trump's image went viral on social media with scores of users coming up with jokes, memes and criticism of the president.

Reacting to the image posted on the White House's X account, Lepus (@LepusNox) was quick to point out how it was neither funny nor respectful. “As President of the United States, posting a picture of himself as Pope a few days after the Pope's death is neither funny, nor does it present statesmanship and respectful behaviour. Rather, it shows the boundless arrogance and childish behaviour of a man who believes he is above everything, can get away with anything and is the head of everyone.”

The newsportal quoted comedian Terrance K Williams's post on X, which said: “Pope Trump... Lol our President just posted this. He's trolling because he knows the media is going to flip out. Love it Actually I love the sound of King Trump, the first of his name.”

Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health and former Democratic congressional candidate, also took to X saying, “The guy who broke all 10 commandments is posting pictures of himself cosplaying as the next Pope.”

An X user, Average Aussie Egyptologist (Therese Clarke) (@AUSegyptology) called it “truly disgraceful” and an insult to the late Pope Francis.

“I can take lots of jokes about religion, but this is truly disgraceful - an insult to the late Pope Francis. It is on Donald Trump's approved Instagram account. The man couldn't even follow the protocols advised by the Holy See, fell asleep during the funeral mass and now does this,” she said.

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