Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, refused to answer a reporter’s questions about an AI-generated photo posted by U.S. President Donald Trump of himself as the pope on Sunday (May 4).

Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday (May 2), less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month. The White House then reposted it on its official X account.

Trump on Tuesday (April 29) had jokingly said he would be his own first choice to become pope, before adding that there was a "very good" candidate in New York, Cardinal Dolan.

'I'd like to be Pope,' Trump jokes

Dolan gave a mass on Sunday at the church where he is cardinal protector, Our Lady of Guadalupe on Mount Mario, three days ahead of the conclave which will begin on May 7.

Dolan, the archbishop of New York, is not on the short list of possible contenders for the top spot, but it does include another American, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, New Jersey.

There has never been a pope from the United States.