Donald Trump has revealed he wants to become the next Pope ahead of the papal conclave at the Vatican.
The US President jokingly said he would nominate himself to lead the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis aged 88.
Speaking as he left the White House to hold a rally marking his first 100 days in office, Mr Trump — who is not Catholic — told reporters: "I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.”
I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham appeared to throw his weight behind Mr Trump’s long-shot bid for the papacy.
He posted on X: “This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!
“The first Pope-President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”
Although he insisted “I have no preference” on who should be pontiff, Mr Trump heaped praise on Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.
He said: "I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York, who's very good. So we'll see what happens."
The spiritual leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics will be elected from the College of Cardinals next week.
Around 135 cardinals under the age of 80, including Cardinal Dolan, are eligible to take part in the secretive election.
They will travel from around the world to the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where the next pope will be chosen in a series of ballots.
Other contenders include Italy's Pietro Parolin, the Philippines' Luis Antonio Tagle and Guinea’s Robert Sarah.
Mr Trump joined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Prince William and a host of other dignitaries for Francis’ in St Peter's Square last Saturday.
There was also an extraordinary moment where Mr Trump sat face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a quiet corner of St Peter's Basilica.
Pope Francis, who had led the church since 2013, died in St Martha’s House on April 21 after suffering a stroke and heart failure.
