President Donald Trump on Tuesday joked about his next job on Tuesday as he celebrated his 100th day as President of the United States.
The president was asked about the upcoming conclave of Cardinals at the Vatican to elect the new pope after Pope Francis passed away last Monday.
When asked if he had any preferences for the next pope, he smiled and said jokingly, ‘I would like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.’
Trump spoke briefly to reporters at the White House as he left for a rally in Michigan where he plans to celebrate his 100th day in office.
The pope does not have to be a cardinal, priest or bishop, according to canon law, but he is required to be a Catholic.
Trump was confirmed at a Presbyterian church as a child, but said in a 2020 statement that he considers himself ‘a nondenominational Christian.’
In order to theoretically be elected as the Pope he would have to convert to Catholicism before Cardinals begin the papal conclave on May 7th.
Trump further clashed with Pope Francis on the issue of migration, as the pontiff sent a letter to American bishops.
On a more serious note, Trump said he did not have a preference for the next pope but referred to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as a possible option.
‘We have a cardinal at a place called New York that is very good so we will see what happens,’ he said.
Cardinal Dolan recently voiced his thoughts about the election of the next pope, suggesting that the next pope have ‘some of the characteristics’ of Pope Francis.
‘Every cardinal would say that. We never want to lose that,’ he told Fox News. ‘They might also say, but here’s some things we’d like to see the new pope emphasize.’
Dolan said the Catholic Church should not be considered as liberal or conservative, right or left, in the American sense of a political divide.
‘We don’t look at one another as belonging to camps. We look at each other as believers, as disciples, as brothers,’ he said.
Trump hinted at his next job after the told The Atlantic Magazine he was not looking to run for a third term as president despite his supporters support for the idea.
Trump was initially a fan of Pope Francis when he was first elected in 2013 and the future president was still in real estate.
‘Congratulations to my Catholic friends on the selection of Pope Francis I to lead the Catholic Church. People that know him love him!’ he wrote on social media.
But shortly after Trump was elected, Pope Francis chided him for repeatedly vowing to build a wall on the Southern border of the United States.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,’ the pontiff said in a media interview.
The pope also sent a letter to American bishops in February, criticizing ‘the initiation of a program of mass deportations’ under Trump’s second term.
Trump praised Francis after his death, speaking to Americans on Easter Monday from the White House.
‘He was a good man, worked hard, he loved the world,’ he said.
Trump attended Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, telling reporters he felt he was ‘a fantastic kind of a guy,’ as he left for Rome.