Donald Trump Wants to Be the Next Pope, but Is that Actually a Possibility?

Being the pope and the president at the same time sounds like a lot of work, but Donald Trump thinks he's up for the challenge. When asked who he would like to see become the next pope, Trump, perhaps unsurprisingly, suggested that there was only one person he had in mind. "I'd like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice," he explained, per Reuters.

He then answered the question more seriously, saying that he had no strong preference. "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," he continued. Following his initial response, though, some people wondered whether it might actually be possible for Trump to become pope. Here's what we know.

The eligibility guidelines to become pope are actually quite broad, although not so broad that they include Trump. In theory, any baptized Catholic male is eligible for the job, but the College of Cardinals that elects the pope has tended to vote for one of their members. This has been true for the last 600 years, at least, which means that the 135 cardinals assembled to vote are likely to include the next pope amongst their ranks.

Because Trump is not Catholic he would not be eligible to become the next pope, although it is noteworthy that Vice President J.D. Vance does meet the requirements to become the head of the Catholic Church. That doesn't necessarily mean that Vance is a likely candidate, but he is closer to meeting the criteria than Trump himself.

Although Trump has occasionally cited religious beliefs throughout his political career, it's fair to say that faith does not play a central role in his life.

Although it's unclear how serious Trump was when he said that he should be the next pope, Senator Lindsey Graham apparently thinks it's a great idea.

"I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "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-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!" Graham continued.

It's hard to say how seriously we should take Graham's comments, although this wouldn't be the first time that Graham has gone out of his way to flatter the president and ingratiate himself with Trump.

It seems unlikely that Trump will be named the next pope for any number of reasons. The Catholic Church certainly has its fair share of problems, but they would have to throw out a whole lot of tradition to make Trump the pope. And while the Church is not opposed to changing some things, tradition is kind of their whole deal.