President Donald Trump revealed Melania’s true thoughts about that viral AI-generated meme of him as pope.
‘My wife thought it was cute. She said, Isn’t that nice?,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office.
He then indicated he’d rather be married to Melania than serve as Pontiff.
‘Actually, I would not be able to be married, though that would be a lot.’
On Friday, the White House reposted on its social media accounts an AI-image of Trump as the Pope, dressed in white and holding his hand up in a blessing. He and the first lady attended Pope Francis’ funeral last weekend.
The conclave to select the new pope starts Wednesday. The requirements for the position are to be male, baptized as a Catholic and unmarried.
After the meme went viral, some Catholic groups complained, saying it wasn’t funny.
Trump snapped back at them.
‘Oh, I see you mean they can’t take a joke,’ he told a reporter when asked about it.
‘You don’t mean the Catholics. You mean the fake news media, not the Catholics.’
But the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in the state, was one of the organizations openly criticizing the president.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the group posted on social media. “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.”
Trump posted the image to Truth Social on Friday evening, and the White House amplified the post on X shortly after.
The president said on Monday that he ‘loved’ the pic.
‘I had nothing to do with it,’ he added. ;Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the Pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from.’
The Trumps traveled to Rome last Friday, attended Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday before returning to the United States.
The duo went their separate ways at Newark airport – Trump boarding Marine One to go to his New Jersey golf club and Melania taking an SUV back to New York City.
But they had a sweet airport goodbye before paring: Trump gave his wife a kiss on cheek. He was walking toward his helicopter when he quickly stopped and went back to the first lady to give her parting peck.
The president also caused a controversy at the funeral when he wore a blue suit instead of a black one.