Should a President Pose as the Pope? Nope.
But the Church faces even bigger obstacles.
A few days ago, a photo (likely AI-generated) of Donald Trump dressed like a pope appeared on his Truth Social page and the official White House social media pages. Some people thought it was funny, but plenty of others found it in poor taste. As a Catholic who is not opposed to slightly irreverent humor, I was nevertheless horrified by the image for a few reasons:
He’s the President of the United States, for Pete’s sake.
It was immature.
It wasn’t so much insulting as it was stupid.
I knew he wouldn’t apologize for possibly insulting anyone.
He proved me right on number 4 when he spoke to the press about the incident.
“The Catholics loved it,” he claimed. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (MN), both recently appointed to the White House’s Commission on Religious Liberty, did their best to politely disagree with Trump.
"I hope he didn't have anything to do with it," Dolan said when confronted by journalists near the Vatican, where he was preparing to partake in the conclave to select a new pope. "It wasn't good. As Italians say, it was brutta figura."
“I think it was a bad joke that obviously landed very poorly and was seen as offensive by a lot of Catholics, and I wish he hadn't done it,” Barron commented when asked about the AI image.
Let’s use the Trump-as-pope incident as a teaching moment. Catholics and non-Catholics can:
Be thankful Trump didn’t appear as Jesus. (Hopefully that’s not next on the list.)
Admit that even those who support a leader can criticize his/her poor choices.
Agree that irreverent jokes are bound to insult some people, so reconsider sharing them (or share them with a small group of friends who will appreciate them).
Take a page from Jesus’ instructions to His disciples when correcting others —
“If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.* If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaving.” (Matt. 18:15-18)
The Trump-as-pope situation pales in comparison to what the governor of Washington is proposing for the Catholic Church. On May 2, Gov. Robert Ferguson signed a law forcing clergy members to report suspected child abuse, even if the matter is divulged during the sacrament of confession. The bill, which is set to go into effect on July 1, passed 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate.
The Justice Department recently announced a First Amendment investigation on the bill. According to the Office of Public Affairs website: “The Civil Rights Division will investigate the apparent conflict between Washington State’s new law with the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment, a cornerstone of the United States Constitution….The law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals.”
Gov. Ferguson is Catholic and insists that the law is meant to protect children. While other states include Catholic clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse, they have exemptions in place for information revealed in confession.
For Catholics, confession is an opportunity to seek forgiveness and healing from the Lord. The priest acts as a representative of Christ and is given authority passed down from the apostles to absolve sins. In secular terms, the priest is the conduit between a human being and God.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains: “The Code of Canon Law forbids priests from divulging information received in confession. The penalty for a priest who directly violates the seal of confession is excommunication. The right to maintain the seal—or, clergy-penitent privilege—was upheld in what is possibly the first court case on the right to free exercise of religion in America, People v. Philips. Since the Philips case, clergy-penitent privilege has become recognized as a basic right.”
The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. This law appears to be in direct violation of the amendment. It brings up the question: What other laws might be in the works to try to coerce religious people to forsake their oaths?
Curiously, it’s the Trump Administration that might save priests from this Washington bill. The guy who pretended to be a pope ends up fighting for the rights of the clergy. This proves that God has the best sense of humor of all.
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