New York
AP
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President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself dressed as pope as the mourning of Pope Francis continues and just days before the conclave to elect his successor is set to begin. Trump’s action drew rebukes from a group representing Catholic bishops in New York and among Italians.

The image, shared Friday night on Trump’s Truth Social site and later reposted by the White House on its official X account, raised eyebrows on social media and at the Vatican, which is still in the period of nine days of official mourning following Francis’ death on April 21. Catholic cardinals have been celebrating daily Masses in his memory and are due to open the conclave to elect his successor on Wednesday.

The death of a pope and election of another is a matter of utmost solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is Christ’s vicar on Earth. That is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by nonreligious Italians.

The image featuring Trump in a white cassock and pointed miter, or bishop’s hat, was the topic of several questions during the Vatican’s daily conclave briefing Saturday. Italian and Spanish news reports lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive, given that the period of official mourning is still underway.

Left-leaning former Premier Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around,” Renzi wrote on X. “Meanwhile, the US economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. The sovereignists are doing damage, everywhere.”

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, declined to comment.

In the United States, the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of the state in working with government, accused Trump of mockery.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” they wrote. “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.”

Italy’s left-leaning La Repubblica also featured the image on its homepage Saturday with a commentary accusing Trump of “pathological megalomania.”

Asked to respond to the criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, “President Trump flew to Italy to pay his respects for Pope Francis and attend his funeral, and he has been a staunch champion for Catholics and religious liberty.”

Jack Posobiec, a prominent far-right influencer and Trump ally who recently participated in a Catholic prayer event in March at Trump’s Florida resort, also defended the president.

“I’m Catholic. We’ve all been making jokes about the upcoming Pope selection all week. It’s called a sense of humor,” he wrote on X.

The episode comes after Trump joked last week about his interest in the vacancy. “I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice,” the thrice married president, who is not Catholic, told reporters.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, piled on.

“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!” Graham, R-S.C., wrote on X. “The first Pope-US President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”

Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic and was one of the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the pope died, also joked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio becoming pope, suggesting Rubio could add it to the long list of titles he holds, including national security adviser and acting archivist.

Beyond floating himself for the job, Trump also has put in a plug for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.

“I have no preference. I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out a place called New York who’s very good. So we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Dolan, 75, is one of 10 US cardinals who will be voting in the conclave, but Trump’s pitch might have cost Dolan support.

The reason conclaves are held in secrecy, with cardinals sequestered for the duration, is to prevent outside secular powers from influencing their choice, as occurred in centuries past.

There is an old saying about campaigning for the job of pope or of being promoted excessively, especially by outsiders: If you “enter a conclave as pope, you leave as a cardinal.”

While Trump attended Francis’ funeral, he and Vance have clashed with US bishops in general and Francis in particular over the administration’s hard line stance on immigration and its efforts to deport migrants en masse. Right before he was hospitalized in February for pneumonia, Francis issued a strong rebuke of the administration’s mass deportation plans and Vance’s theological justification of it.

Over 12 years as pope, Francis tried to remake the U.S. Catholic hierarchy more in his image, elevating pastors who prioritized social justice and migration issues over culture warriors who were more favored by his more doctrinaire predecessors St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. A new pope who is more conservative could reverse that effort.

Trump has nominated as his ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, whose Catholicvote.org has been aggressively covering the pre-conclave days at the Vatican. It was one of the main disseminators in English-speaking media of a report, flatly and officially denied by the Vatican, that Cardinal Pietro Parolin had had a health scare this past week that required medical attention.

Parolin was the secretary of state under Francis and is seen as a leading contender to be pope. He is also the main architect of the Vatican’s China policy and its controversial 2018 deal with Beijing over bishop nominations – a deal that the was sharply criticized by the first Trump administration.

CNN
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British counter-terrorism police have arrested five men, including four Iranian nationals, on suspicion of planning a terrorist act, a statement from London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday.

The investigation relates to a suspected plot to target a specific location, according to the statement, which added that the men were arrested during raids at a number of addresses across the country on Saturday.

“This is a fast-moving investigation and we are working closely with those at the affected site to keep them updated,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

The Met Police have not said which site was the target of the alleged attack. It said the men were arrested in the Greater Manchester and London areas, as well as in the southern town of Swindon.

“The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter,” said Murphy.

Four of the men are Iranian nationals, ranging in age from 29 to 46, and have been detained under Britain’s Terrorism Act, the police statement said. The nationality of the fifth man, whose age was not provided, was still being established and the Met statement said he had instead been detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

All five remain in police custody.

“We understand the public may be concerned and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,” Murphy said.

Additional details of the suspects arrests:

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN
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A Harvard Medical School researcher currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement says she should have reviewed customs protocols before attempting to enter the US with “non-hazardous” frog embryo samples but insists what she told immigration agents was misunderstood.

“I never provided false information to any government official,” Kseniia Petrova, a Russian national, said in a statement issued Thursday. “Some of my words were misunderstood and inaccurately reflected in the statement that the officer presented for my signature.”

Petrova is accused of “lying to federal officers” about what she was carrying, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement. The agency also alleges she “broke the law and took deliberate steps to evade it.”

Messages on Petrova’s phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them,” the statement said.

Petrova said she was never asked if she had any “biological material,” and that she asked for that part of her inspection statement to be corrected, as well as “other inaccuracies.” She said those changes were never made and, because of that, she was detained.

“I should have reviewed U.S. customs paperwork requirements,” she said, adding that she was more concerned with getting the samples to her lab before they degraded.

Petrova, who describes herself as “a nerdy 30-year-old scientist who typically works 10 to 12 hours a day,” said her boss asked her to bring the scientific samples back from Paris for their cancer research. Petrova said she didn’t expect any problems getting the embryos through customs because they were “non-toxic, non-hazardous, and non-infectious.”

Petrova has spent more than 10 weeks in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. Since she has been in custody, people have sent her science books, supportive notes and letters, and some of her colleagues have come to visit, she said.

“I take full responsibility for not properly declaring the frog embryo samples. What I do not understand is why the American officials say I am being held because I am a danger to the community and a flight risk,” Petrova said. “I only want to be in the lab working on research. That is my life’s purpose. That is what I’m all about.”

Later this month she has a federal court hearing in Vermont challenging her detention. If the court decides the government acted unlawfully, the judge could release her, according to her attorney Greg Romanovsky. If not, she faces deportation to Russia, where, according to her attorney, she would face immediate arrest over her previous outspoken opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.