President Donald Trump on Monday brushed aside criticism lodged against him after an AI image depicting him dressed as the pope was posted to his social media accounts, claiming the “fake news media,” not Catholics,” were offended by the picture.

Trump dismissed the premise of a reporter’s question that Catholics were “not so happy” about the image.

“Oh, you mean they can’t take a joke? You don’t mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it,” the president said.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said the image “wasn’t good” when asked if he was offended by it.

The picture of Trump dressed in white robes and wearing the papal tiara was posted to the president’s Truth Social and his other social media accounts last week.

The post was made three days after Trump said he should be selected as the next leader of the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis late last month. Trump indicated seconds later that he was joking.

Trump claimed he was not involved in creating the image.

“I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed up like the pope and they put it out on the internet,” the president said Monday, adding that he first saw the picture Sunday night.

Trump said his wife, First Lady Melania Trump — a practicing Catholic — was amused by the AI image.

“Actually, my wife thought it was cute. She said, ‘isn’t that nice,’” Trump said. “Actually, I would not be able to be married though … to the best of my knowledge pope’s aren’t being married, are they?”