US President Donald Trump posted an AI image of himself as the pope, prompting accusations of poor taste in the Roman Catholic community just days before the conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor is due to begin.

It’s sad both for the White House and for the president,” one cardinal said. “I mean, he makes themselves ridiculous, right?”

That would be my number one choice,” he said at the time. The image shows Trump dressed in a white garment wearing a pope’s hat and a necklace with a cross hanging around his neck. He is sitting in a chair with his index finger pointed upwards.