On Wednesday, April 30, President Donald Trump made a surprising statement, joking that he’d love to become the next pope.
When reporters asked him who he thought should be the next leader of the Catholic Church, Trump responded with a laugh: “I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice.”
He added that he didn’t have any real preference and mentioned Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, as a “very good” choice. While Dolan isn’t on the list of top contenders, there’s another American cardinal in the running: Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey.
Trump and his wife, Melania, recently traveled to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away at 88. Over the years, Trump and Pope Francis had clashed over issues like immigration, with the pope calling for more compassion for migrants, while Trump pushed for stricter policies.
Now, with 135 Catholic cardinals about to meet in a secret conclave to pick the next pope, there’s no clear frontrunner yet.
