Fox News’ top on-air Catholic dismissed the fury that has swirled around President Donald Trump′s AI-photo stunt of himself as Pope.
Trump posted an AI-generated photo of himself as the new pontiff less than two weeks after Pope Francis’ death, setting off a wave of condemnation from Catholics and religious conservatives. This includes the man Trump suggested should be the next Pope, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who called the image “not good.”
But Fox News contributor Jonathan Morris, a former Catholic priest who has been with the network since 2005, said he doesn’t understand all the fuss in an interview on America’s Newsroom Monday. Morris left the priesthood in 2019 and married Kaitlyn Folmer, an ABC News investigative producer, in 2020.
“I do not even understand the mindset of being offended by anything anyone does, honestly,” Morris said. “Imagine if I were to put that meme out of me dressed up as a pope. Offended? I hope not. It’s a question of, I would be embarrassed to do it.”
“But listen,” he added. “President Trump knows what he is doing. He is not doing it to offend Catholics.”
Fellow guest Tom Shillue, a stand-up comic and practicing Catholic, agreed, saying the image was “not even close to being offensive.”
“Didn’t go near the line,” he said.
Shillue held up a stylized image of himself as a saint as part of a promotional campaign for Fox Nation show The Saints.
“I aspire to be more like a saint, but I’m no saint. This is on my refrigerator to remind me,” Shillue said. “The pope isn’t even a saint. It wasn’t even close to the line.”
Hemmer joined in on the fun, laughing with the two over the image.
“As a Catholic myself, I have the same thing on my desk, from the same promotion, in New York,” Hemmer said.
Catholic bishops in New York slammed Trump over the image on Saturday, saying there was “nothing clever or funny” about the post.
“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis, and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter,” the New York Catholic Conference of Bishops wrote. “Do not mock us.”
