Italian prime minister slams Donald Trump following 'shameful' AI Pope image

US President Donald Trump has been criticized from many angles after posting an AI generated image of himself as the new pope just days after Pope Francis' death, leading one former Italian prime minister to brand his actions as 'shameful'.

It certainly isn't the first time that President Trump has been criticized for his use of artificial intelligence in the last few months, as many were left horrified after an AI-generated video of Gaza was posted on his Truth Social page, even if its original creator revealed it to be 'satire'.

Trump's latest social media stunt appears to have hit the vast majority of the roughly 1.4 billion Catholic individuals across the world, as the president shared a mock-up image of himself as the new pope, which was then amplified by the White House's official X account.

While some Catholic's within Trump's supporter base came to his defense, the wider religious community has banded together to slam the image, with one former Italian prime minister issuing a particularly scathing assessment, as reported by The Guardian.

"This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the rightwing world enjoys clowning around," wrote Matteo Renzi on X in response to the image that sees Trump don a crucifix pendant and papal mitre.

Renzi also highlighted that Trump's 'mocking' image comes at a time when "the American economy risks recession and the dollar loses value," making likely reference to the recent tariffs which also included a 'pope penalty' on imports from Vatican City, as per RNS.

This comes off as particularly disrespectful mere days after the late Pope Francis' funeral, which Trump himself was one of the more notable attendees of, and also following comments from the president claiming he would 'like to be pope'.

It still might be a while before the new pope is chosen by a locked-away conclave of cardinals, and there doesn't necessarily appear to be a clear frontrunner at this point in time.

It remains true that Trump certainly wouldn't be a popular choice though, and one look at the social media reaction confirms that fact.

"I thought it's The Onion at first," one comment on Reddit reveals. "I woke up and checked my notification and saw this abomination. 'Sure that's just a social media s***post right'. Nope it comes directly from the White House."

Another adds that Trump is "already bored of being President. No title or status will ever be enough."

Many also appear to fixate on the unprofessional nature of the White House's social media channels too, with one user writing: "It's the fact that the official White House account keeps posting crap that would get any entry level employee at a desk job fired that upsets me the most. There is zero class. Zero."

It certainly won't be the last controversy that surrounds Trump during his second administration though, yet for many it remains one of the most shocking.