President Donald Trump knows who he wants to see elected pope by the upcoming conclave: himself. “Who do you see as pope?” a reporter asked the president Tuesday. “As pope? I’d like to be pope,” Trump replied without hesitation. “That would be my number one choice.” Ignoring Trump’s divine delusion, the reporter asked again who he’d like to see succeed Pope Francis, who died at 88 on Easter Monday. “No, I don’t know, I have no preference,” he said, before praising Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. Trump, who’s said he considers himself a non-denominational Christian, is ineligible for the job as a non-Catholic, despite his papal fantasy. Popes have traditionally been elected from among cardinals under the age of 80, by a conclave of 135 voting cardinals. Dolan, considered a conservative within the church, will be among the cardinals gathering in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel when the conclave begins on May 7. Their choice will likely determine whether the church continues along the relatively progressive path charted by Pope Francis—or if it will shift course back toward a more traditional doctrine.
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