Good question, the shadows on his left side and under his left arm match the angle of the light and shadows on the floor, so its tough to say if its cardboard - looks pretty real to me though. Only thing that looks odd about him is the straight horizontal line across his waist area as well as the bottom front of the chair, now that you mention it.
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he was in usa during late 2015 - so maybe he is actually there... and just happens to have been snapped in 'classic pope pose' and looking slightly 2D
It's cardboard, you can see the fold in the midsection, and it's being held up by the foot of what's-his-face.