US President Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated picture of himself as the Pope.
Trump, who last week attended the funeral of Pope Francis, shared the image on his Truth Social account.
It was later shared on the official White House Twitter/X account, where it has been viewed over 70m times.
Trump has previously described himself as a Presbyterian but in 2020 said he considers himself to be a non-denominational Christian.
While some social media users described the image as a joke that was not to be taken seriously, others criticised Trump for sharing the picture.
Fr James Martin, a Jesuit priest and journalist with Catholic magazine America, said he found the image ‘deeply offensive’.
“Jesuits are always supposed to give people the benefit of the doubt,” he posted on Twitter/X.
“So even though I find this deeply offensive, I will presume that Mr Trump meant this light-heartedly (even though he had just recently returned from Pope Francis’s Funeral Mass, and he has a Catholic Vice President who met with Francis the day before his death).
“But imagine the incandescent outrage, the swift condemnation, and the individual and joint protests from the US bishops if this had been done by Joe Biden or Barack Obama.”
The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops of the state, accused the president of mocking their faith.
“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President,” they posted.
“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.”
‘Unserious and incapable’
Meanwhile, Fr Thomas Paprocki, the Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, called on the president to apologise.
“The Bible tells us, ‘Make no mistake: God is not mocked’ (Galatians 6:7),” he wrote.
“The Pope is the Vicar of Christ. By publishing a picture of himself masquerading as the Pope, President Trump mocks God, the Catholic Church, and the Papacy.
“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.”
Michael Steele, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland who previously served as chair of the Republican National Committee, said the post reflected Trump’s immaturity.
“During this period of Novemdiales (mourning the loss of Pope Francis) I’ll set this offense aside because Trump in his narcissism gets off on our being offended,” he wrote on Twitter/X.
“More to the point, this affirms how unserious and incapable he is.
“At 78 he remains a 10yo child, emotionally scarred and broken while desperate to prove he could be somebody. His problem: he can’t grow up to prove it.”