MADONNA has sparked outrage after the pop star shared a bizarre AI-generated picture of her snuggling up to the Pope.
The singer, whose real name is Madonna Louise Ciccone, divided her fans after putting up two suggestive fake images of herself with the leader of the Catholic Church.
The Queen of Pop has undergone a longtime feud with the church.
Outrage started after the singer, 66, shared two fake photos of her with Pope Francis on her Instagram story.
The first image showed the pop star, in a lace black dress, snuggled up with the religious leader as they embrace.
Pope Francis seemed to have his nose pressed to her cheek as he grabbed her, in the odd photo.
Madonna captioned the story “Going into the weekend like…”
The second strange AI image showed the Pope with his arm around the singer’s waist as he stares at her face.
Madonna wrote on this image: “Feels Good to Be Seen…”
These rendered fake images came from a meme artist’s page, as the pop star tagged @rickdick_.
A furious backlash was sparked when the artist reposted the fake photos.
Some fans online raged that the AI-generated images were weird and scary.
One person said: “AI HAS GONE TOO FAR.”
Another social media user said: “This is another web full filling tentative of AI s***. Nonsense, sad and a useless use of modern tools.
“What is the message? what do you want to say?”
A third person wrote: “This is unethical and not good at all.”
Madonna’s feud with the Catholic Church has dated back to 1989 after she dropped the music video for her global hit “Like a Prayer”.
The Vatican condemned the artist and banned the video.
This controversial clip was accused of sexualizing Jesus and bashed for burning crosses.
Pope John Paul II, at the time, encouraged fans to boycott Madonna in Italy and not attend her 1990 Blond Ambition tour.
The singer came under fire again in 2006 when she staged a fake crucifixion during a concert in Rome.
Cardinal Ersilio Tonino at the time, with the permission of Pope Benedict XVI, said the singer “should be excommunicated”.
Madonna reached out to Pope Francis in a 2022 X post saying she didn’t believe her excommunications were fair.
She wrote: “Hello @Pontifex Francis —I’m a good Catholic. I Swear! I mean I don’t Swear! It’s been a few decades since my last confession.
“Would it be possible to meet up one day to discuss some important matters? I’ve been excommunicated 3 times. It doesn’t seem fair. Sincerely, Madonna.”
This comes after Pope Francis triggered new health concerns when he was spotted with a huge bruise on his face, The Sun previously reported.
The religious leader, 86, was seen with the purple and black coloured bruise near his chin and a swollen neck, at a ceremony on Saturday 7.
Despite the visible injury and signs of fatigue, Pope Francis continued to hold the event without any apparent problems.
The Vatican said this large bruise was the result of a minor fall where he hit his chin on his bedside table the previous morning.
