US senator ‘wants Trump to be pope’ – but there’s one big problem

Posted on by Samantha

Not content with Donald Trump holding the highest office in the US, senator Lindsay Graham – seemingly seriously – wants the president take over as head of the Catholic Church as well.

A reporter asked Trump on Tuesday (29 April) who he wants to see to succeed Francis I, following the death of the 88-year-old pontiff in April. In response, the president quipped: “I’d like to be ope. That would be my number-one choice.”

Then, more seriously, he said he had “no preference”, before adding: “I must say, we have a cardinal [who] happens to be out of a place called New York [who] is very good, so we’ll see what happens.”

Trump’s off-the-cuff remark quickly drew criticism from Catholics who viewed the jokes as disrespectful to Pope Francis and the conclave. However, South Carolina’s senior senator, Lindsay – also not a Catholic – expressed support for a Trump papacy.

“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next pope,” Lindsay wrote on X/Twitter. “This would truly be a dark horse candidate but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about [the] possibility.

“The first pope-president combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII.”

MMXXVIII are the Roman numerals for the year 2028, a direct reference to the fact Trump has hinted at running for a third term in the White House, despite this not being allowed under the US Constitution.

Of course, there is one glaring issue that would throw a spanner in the works of Trump moving to St Peter’s in Rome: he isn’t a Catholic.

In 2020, Trump said he no longer identified as a Presbyterian and now saw himself as a non-denominational Christian.

“Melania and I have gotten to visit some amazing churches and meet with great faith leaders from around the world. During the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak, I tuned into several virtual church services and know that millions of Americans did the same,” he said at the time.

Francis, who became pope in 2013 after Benedict XVI resigned, had a complex and sometimes contradictory record on LGBTQ+ rights but was praised by queer Catholics for moving conversations forward about the community.

How is the new pope chosen?

Technically, any baptised, unmarried Catholic male could be elected pope but in reality this is extremely unlikely to happen because for centuries they have been chosen from within the College of Cardinals.

When it’s time to elect for a new pope, every cardinal under the age of 80 is expected to travel to Rome to cast their vote.

Inside the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals write the name of their chosen candidate on a paper ballot, which is placed into a chalice to keep it as anonymous as possible. Four rounds of balloting are held every day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the votes. The process is set to start on Wednesday (7 May).

The public are not allowed to see the voting but are made aware when the final choice has been made by white smoke being emitted from the Vatican’s chiminea. 

The actual process of voting is secretive and it is no easy to predict who will be the new religious leader of the estimated 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, but Italian Pietro Parolin, Luis Antonio Tagle, from the Philippines, and Ghanaian Peter Turkson are all believed to be in the running.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful. 
 

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