Trump's lack of respect for Catholics from official White House channels

Social media is allowing some politicians to reveal themselves where protocol rules don't extend.

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These rules may seem exaggerated or even ridiculous to some, but they exist out of the need to show respect to others, starting with the ordinary citizens whom politicians serve (although some think it is the other way around). Donald Trump doesn't seem to get this, judging by an image he posted last night on Truth Social that hours later was shared by official White House channels on Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram.

In that image, created using artificial intelligence, Trump appears dressed as a Pope and raising the index finger of his right hand. You can see here a screenshot of the publication of that image on the White House Twitter account:

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Trump: "Who do you want to be the next Pope?" He replied: "I'd like to be Pope. That'd be my number one choice." He made that statement near Marine One, the helicopter that transports the US president. Trump was probably joking, but with that image, the joke has gone too far and has become disrespectful to millions of Catholics around the world. Many of them have shown their disagreement with that image in recent hours on the Internet.

It's incredible that such an image was published on several official channels of the White House, that is, the official residence of the President of the United States, an institution that represents the pinnacle of power in the largest democracy in the West. Something like this is to be expected from a 13-year-old boy who isn't very bright and who uses social media to post stupid jokes. Trump is 78 years old, old enough to know that something like this is disrespectful.

I wonder what communications advisors the White House has that would have made something like this publicized on several official channels, and if Trump ignores any advice he receives in this regard. In any case, I repeat the idea I've expressed before about the use certain politicians make of official social media channels: A public institution is not the property of the politician elected to a certain position, and one cannot publish whatever that politician wants on official channels, as if they were their personal channels.

As a Catholic, I hope the White House publishes a rectification through the same channels it used to spread that image. I can say that even if that rectification comes, this regrettable publication has already served to tell us a little more about what kind of person Trump is and what we can expect from him.