Oxford Cardinal slams ‘absurd’ US President Donald Trump

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe appeared on BBC show Newsnight yesterday (Monday, April 13) to discuss the AI generated picture of Mr Trump which the President claimed showed him as a doctor but others said depicted him as Jesus Christ.

The President has since deleted the post after widespread criticism.

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The Cardinal has a long association with Oxford, beginning when he studied at St John’s College in the 1960s.

Pope Leo XIV in Algiers (Image: AP)

Not only has the 80-year-old taught scriptures in Oxford, after stepping down as master of the Dominican Order in 2001, he took up residency as an ordinary member of the community at Blackfriars Priory on St Giles’ Street.

In 2003 the University of Oxford awarded Mr Radcliffe an honorary Doctor in Divinity with the Chancellor Christopher Patten at the time honouring his “eloquence” and “wit”.

The Cardinal told host Victoria Derbyshire that Mr Trump’s post was “bizarre”, adding that although he didn’t think the President intended to attack Christianity it did show a “complete misunderstanding” of the religion.

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He said: “Anybody who could think that they have the right to claim to be Jesus now in that way to take his place is quite frankly absurd.”

Within the interview Mr Radcliffe also dismissed the idea that the image showed Mr Trump as a doctor while also backing Pope XIV, who he said he knows well and called “fearless”.

Equally he dismissed any claims that the Chicago-born pontiff was elected because he was American, something Mr Trump had suggested in a separate social media post.