Sunday marked the end of a formal mourning period for Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after 12 years in the papacy and a life dedicated to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
When I think of Pope Francis, I will always remember two images.
The first image is of him in 2018 embracing a little tearful boy, asking if his late father had gone to Heaven. At first afraid to ask the question burning deeply in his heart, the little boy hesitated. But Pope Francis called him by name and offered a sweet invitation. “Come to me, Emanuele, and whisper in my ear.”
Then the answer to the boy’s question was shared with the entire congregation at the boy’s parish.
“The one who says who goes to Heaven is God,” said Pope Francis. “(But God has) a Father’s heart. God has a Dad’s heart. And with a Dad who was not a believer, but who baptized his children … do you think that God would be able to leave him far from himself? Does God abandon his children? Does God abandon his children when they are good?”
The second image is of a frail Pope Francis blessing tens of thousands of faithful Catholics at St. Peter’s Square on April 20 during Easter Mass — his last public act.
Less than one month after being discharged from a lengthy hospital stay after battling pneumonia, Pope Francis offered a sweet greeting — so familiar to people of faith that it is often taken for granted. “Dear brothers and sisters, happy Easter,” the pope said.
Those words — acknowledging the divinity of God, along with the brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind — were humble, yet powerful because they directed attention away from the pope to the crowd.
I can think of many great leaders who share this common trait throughout history; even when they have a legitimate opportunity to call attention to themselves, they instead direct the attention and energy they receive to others.
This is different from the societal norms we see all around us today — where a political position, platform or social media channel draws attention to an individual.
So it was ironic — and deeply troubling — to see an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump dressed as the pope this weekend trending across news and social media feeds.
The president of the United States himself posted the image, and later the White House reposted it on its official Instagram and X accounts.
While the origins of the photo were not immediately clear, President Trump did not try to explain it in the post.
Still, thousands took to social media — pushing back on both President Trump and the image, its tone and timing.
This is an important and tender moment for Catholic faithful — as hundreds of millions around the globe mourn and anticipate the conclave that will choose Pope Francis’ successor.
Simply said, it is tone deaf for the U.S. president to leverage the moment to draw attention to himself.
Pope Francis was known for relentlessly speaking out on behalf of the poor and putting the spotlight on other people.
In 2019, President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints noted these traits after meeting with Pope Francis inside the Vatican. “What a sweet, wonderful man he is,” said President Nelson of the pontiff.
A year earlier, in 2018, President Nelson also spoke with and was interviewed by Pope Francis’ official biographer, Sergio Rubin. The author of "Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio," Rubin said that leaders need to draw close to humanity in order to help others embrace religion.
“Reaching out is very important,” Rubin said. “Leaders have to get close to the people to see that religion is an everyday matter.”
The results of faith as “an everyday matter” are well documented.
People who are active in religious congregations tend to be more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center analysis of survey data from the United States and more than two dozen other countries.
The photograph was posted just one day after Trump launched a new commission on religious liberty on Thursday — questioning whether a gap between the government and religious organizations is a good thing and praising the people of faith working with his administration.
He also posted about the commission on the White House X account.
“We’re bringing back religion in our country and we’re bringing it back quickly and strongly — because for America to be a great nation, we must always be One Nation Under God — POTUS,” said the post.
The president is right about this.
Pew Research Center’s U.S. Religious Landscape Study identifies three areas where the highly religious – defined in this study as the 30% of U.S. adults who say they pray daily and attend religious services at least once a week – are different from the remaining 70% of the population.
They report being happier, they see their extended families more often, and volunteerism and donations to the poor are especially common practices for those who are highly religious.
Many are saying the AI-generated photograph was a joke — and should not be taken seriously. Pope Francis, himself, I am sure, found time to laugh. Still, he also understood what should be reverenced.
It is absolutely true that people who are losing the capacity to feel reverence and respect are in danger of losing a great deal more. It is also true that reverence is most obvious when it is missing, and it is missing most when we accept the deifying of politics and politicians, while politicizing faith and religious institutions.
In May 2023, I attended a Symposium on the Role of News, Media and Art in Society inside Vatican City. There, Cardinal Peter Turkson, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Social Sciences, and business leaders addressed the vital question of faith and how it is portrayed in the public media.
At the event, Keith B. McMullin, the former CEO of Deseret Management Corp — the company that owns the Deseret News — said, “Every man, woman or child has within him or her a spark of the divine. That is a universal truth.”
As a consequence of that divine heritage, they also feel “an affinity to Almighty God, and desire to have those affinities nurtured and respected and properly represented in the public discourse and in the media,” he added.
Also at the symposium, Sister Jane Wakahiu, a Catholic associate vice president of the Conrad Hilton Foundation, said published words and images should “build trust and respect.”
“We don’t have to tear each other down in the media,” she said. “But you can speak with love with tenderness and compassion. And even when we have a difference … we can still communicate our own perspective with love.”
I saw this demonstrated beautifully during another trip to Rome in 2022, where President Dallin H. Oaks of the Latter-day Saint First Presidency offered a keynote address at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit.
During a summit luncheon, when President Oaks was also asked to offer a blessing on the food, he included portions of the Lord’s Prayer in his beautiful heavenly petition — a sweet and powerful acknowledgment of the sponsoring organization and its many members in the room.
In stark contrast to social media — which often draws attention inward — faith teaches humankind to look outward.
That’s why a fitting response to President Trump’s AI-generated social media post is to honor the teachings Pope Francis dedicated his life to sharing — the love espoused by Jesus Christ.
When asked about the election of a new pope, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, recalled the first address Pope Francis offered to cardinals, saying he spoke, “beautifully and humbly and simply.”
“I was sitting next to the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schonborn, and he had tears in his eyes,” said Cardinal Dolan, recalling how the archbishop had reacted. When the Archbishop noted that Pope Francis spoke “like Jesus,” Cardinal Dolan responded, “I think that’s the job description.”
This week, a reporter asked Cardinal Dolan who he would like to see as the next leader of the Catholic Church. His response can not only be applied to Pope Francis, but also to all great leaders.
“Someone like Jesus,” he said.