Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was asked by reporters about the image after he had finished a service at a church in Rome on Sunday. In his response, Dolan used the Italian words, “brutta figura,” meaning the post was embarrassing.
“I hope he didn’t have anything to do with it,” Dolan said. “It wasn’t good. As Italians say, it was brutta figura.”
— from an article by Todd Spangler on Variety.com, May 3, 2025.
For some reason, I feel pretty sure I was introduced to the French term, faux pas, by my eighth grade history teacher. Why, exactly, my teacher was explaining the meaning of a French phrase in a history class, I can’t say. But certain languages have phrases that cannot be easily translated into American English, because they refer to cultural values that we don’t embrace here. Or that we are confused about.
The Italian phrase “brutta figura” is another such expression of a cultural value, and might explain why I didn’t recognize the phrase when I ran across it yesterday in a story on Variety.com.
“Brutta” normally means “ugly”, and “figura” can be translated as “figure” — for example, a woman’s figure. But Google Translate says “brutta figura” should be translated as “bad impression”.
We have to wonder what ‘brutta figura’ means to the Italians? And what it means to Catholics like Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, when he used that phrase to reference an illustration shared by President Trump on Truth Social last week.
Apparently, more than 12,000 people “liked” the post. It was then re-shared by the White House on its official X account.
Being, myself, unfamiliar with the phrase, ‘brutta figura’, I did a bit of light research.
In the radiating glow of ‘La Bella Figura,’ hides its shadow – ‘Brutta Figura,’ the stark opposite of the beautiful figure. It translates to ‘Ugly Figure,’ indicating a bad impression.
A failure to meet the unwritten standards of behavior, manners, or aesthetics imposes a brutta figura – the ultimate social faux pas.
Put simply, brutta figura is that unpleasant moment when the facade cracks. It’s the stain on a crisp white shirt, the mispronounced word on stage, the unsavory comment at a dinner party. This fear of committing a ‘brutta figura’ often acts as a guiding light, compelling Italians to strive towards ‘La Bella Figura.’
— from the blog ‘Rome on Foot’, November 4, 2023.
Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, wrote on X:
This is deeply offensive to Catholics especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the election of our new Pope. He owes an apology.
When a White House reporter told President Trump that some Catholics were not happy about the image of the President dressed as the Pope, the President responded:
“Oh, I see, They can’t take a joke? You don’t mean the Catholics… you mean the fake news media? No, the Catholics loved it…
“I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope and they put it out on the Internet. That’s not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it. I just saw it… last evening.
“Actually, my wife thought it was cute. She said, ‘Isn’t that nice?’
He turned to one of his advisors standing nearby, and continued his thought.
“Actually, I would not be able to be married, though. That would be a loss. … To the best of my knowledge, popes aren’t big on getting married, are they? Not that we know of.
“No.I think it was the fake news media. They’re fakers.”
The reporter followed up, asking if the President though it was appropriate to share the image on an official White House social media account.
The President brushed off the question.
“Give me a break! You just… It was just… Somebody did it in fun. It’s fine…”
While this brutta figura was taking place, Catholics around the world were mourning the passing of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88. Reportedly, about 250,000 people filed through St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Francis, who was the first pope from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis was the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His papacy extended from March 13, 2013, to April 21, 2025, and brought change to the Vatican and the Church at large, resulting in his becoming one of the most complex pontificates of the last century.
From an analysis by John Blake on CNN:
In some ways, Francis was the perfect pope for the social media age. He was not afraid to challenge powerful people and institutions through actions and remarks that often went viral and spawned memes.
He denounced President Trump’s demonization of non-White immigrants. And, in a move perfect for grabbing attention in a crowded media space, he once traveled to a Mediterranean island where the lives of many immigrants had been lost. Upon arrival, he celebrated mass on an altar made of refugee boats.
He was known for dropping progressive bombshells. Early in his papacy he said atheists can go to heaven if they lead honorable lives. That same year he also said: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
In a 2024 interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Francis explained his progressive temperament. When informed that some conservative bishops in the U.S. had complained he was shifting church doctrine in a liberal direction, he responded by saying the term “conservative” can be defined as someone “who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.”
“It’s a suicidal attitude, Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box.”
Other attitudes can be suicidal, as well.
The inability to apologize, for example, for brutta figura.