Ammon News -

President Donald Trump posted a seemingly artificially enhanced photo of himself depicted as the pope on Truth Social Friday night and it has sparked dueling backlash and praise on social media.

Newsweek reached out to the Vatican via email Friday night for comment.

Pope Francis' death on April 21 marked a time of mourning for millions of Catholics around the world. Francis died from complications related to a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.

His funeral took place on Saturday in St. Peter's Square in front of heads of state. Francis' body was laid to rest in St. Mary Major, one of the four papal basilicas in Rome.

The president posted the picture at 10:29 p.m. Friday, without a caption or comment. The post immediately garnered positive and negative reaction online.

Trump was asked this week whom he'd like to see succeed Francis as the new pope. "I'd like to be pope," he quipped.

Continuing, he added while speaking to reporters on Wednesday: "That would be my number one choice. No, I don't know, I have no preference. ... I must say, we have a cardinal [Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York since 2009] that happens to be out of a place called New York, who's very good.