There is an old idiom at universities in the United States: “Sophomores act sophomoric.”

It means young people in their late teens often do stupid things, usually because they think they are funny. Often, members of a College Republicans group or the University Democrats will say or do things with the intention of outraging their opponents, all in “good fun.” People expect the kids grow out of it, hopefully before they graduate.

In today’s world, with new technologies mixed with social media, one could excuse a 19-year-old trying to get a laugh on the eve of a big event like a papal conclave, say by using AI to mock up an image of himself as the next pope.

One questions what reason a 78-year-old man may have to do it, especially is if he is the President of the United States. It is more perplexing if he then puts it on the official White House pages on X – the platform formally known as Twitter – and Instagram, but that’s what Donald Trump did.

Trump’s original picture was published on his own platform, Truth Social, which was then shared on the White House social accounts.

But still, why do something like this less than two weeks after Pope Francis died?

The late pontiff had a somewhat complicated relationship with Trump, disagreeing with him on immigration and refugees. Francis even once said a “man is not Christian” if he said some of things he had heard Trump had said.

Was the U.S. president really just acting like a college sophomore?

In any case, he managed to outrage lots of people, not all of them his natural political opponents.

The post has tens of thousands of replies, most of them negative. Both liberal and conservative Catholics have complained about it, calling it offensive and disrespectful.

At the same time, over 100,000 people have “liked” it.

In many ways, the picture doubled down on a previous statement Trump had made to reporters last week. “I’d like to be pope,” the president said. “That would be my number one choice.”

Trump was joking that time, and later said he had no preference in the election, before pointing out the cardinal in New York – Timothy Dolan – who “happens to be very good,” Trump said.

Trump’s AI picture stunt, however, may not be mere sophomoric banter.

On May 2, Vice President JD Vance – who converted to Catholicism in 2019 – responded on X to a post by someone speaking about the huge requirements of the Catholic U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

“I think he could take on a bit more. If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic…” Vance wrote. On May 3, the vice president answered Bill Kristol asking, “you fine with this disrespect and mocking [by Trump] of the Holy Father?” Vance replied: “As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen.”

Of course, Vance had his own exchange with the deceased pope.

A few months ago, Vance told Fox News his idea of the Christian teaching on the order of love.

“There’s this old school — and I think it’s a very Christian — concept by the way, that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritise the rest of the world,” the Vice President said.

Soon after, Pope Francis wrote a letter to the U.S. refuting Vance, even if the pope’s letter wasn’t addressed to Vance personally.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the pontiff wrote.

“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ … by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception,” Francis said.

Vance was at the Vatican for Easter and met with Francis the day before the pontiff died.

Trump has been president for less than four months and has had an interesting relationship with the Catholic Church in that short time.

He has had strong support from weekly Mass going Catholics, who praise the president for his actions against abortion and promotion of keeping transsexual persons from using same-sex facilities and school sports.

At the same time, he has faced opposition from many bishops for his attacks on immigrants and those seeking refuge in the United States and especially for his mass deportations, to which there are legal challenges pending that observers say could produce a full-fledged constitutional crisis.

Trump could be just making a sophomoric joke, or he might be testing how far he can push the Catholic electorate while he is in office.

Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome