Donald Trump reveals who he wants to be new Pope and his answer WON'T shock you

Donald Trump has revealed who he would like to be named - and his answer will not shock you.

told reporters outside the White House who he believed should step up to lead the world's estimated 1.4 billion Catholics following the death of last week. In typical fashion, the US President initially opted not to pick from the current frontrunners and instead named himself as the late pontiff's possible successor. Responding to a reporter's question about who, Mr Trump replied: "As Pope? I'd like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice."

Trump's comments attracted condemnation and joking online. X/ user Thomas Weiske said: "Good idea. Trump could impose tariffs on other religions."

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"Is Trump's true problem that he's just too unserious to be the leader of the free ?," Harvey Independent said. While Max Flugrath added: "This is the guy who couldn't name a Bible verse after he said it was his favourite book."

But following a brief pause, Mr Trump let on that he was joking about wanting himself to lead the Catholic Church. He added: "No, I don't know. I have no preference. I must say we have a Cardinal that we have that happens to be out of a place called New York who's very good, so we'll see what happens."

While Mr Trump, himself born in New York, did not mention the Cardinal by name, it is likely he had been referring to Timothy M. Dolan, 75, who has served as the Archbishop for the city since 2009 and is considered to hold conservative values.

While the Cardinal might appear to have the President's favour, he is not considered a frontrunner in the race to be named the next Pope, nor is he the leading American in the pack. That distinction goes to Cardinal Raymond Burke, an arch-conservative who is considered to be against many changes in the Catholic Church that were pressed through by Pope Francis.

Mr Trump's comments come following his whistle-stop visit to the Vatican City last week to attend the funeral of the late pontiff. During his brief visit, the Republican appeared to bury the hatchet with Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky following their heated White House spat earlier this year.

Instead, surrounded by rich Baroque architecture, the leaders appeared to discuss a ceasefire deal aimed at bringing an end to the conflict between and . While no deal has been forthcoming so far, Mr Trump has revealed he is becoming less pleased with Russian President who has continued to launch attacks against Ukraine despite the US leader pushing to end the conflict.