On October 21, a Facebook user known for systematically spreading disinformation, Tamuna Tamo, posted that a gold reserve discovered in the Vatican had been returned to the U.S. Treasury. According to the post, the transportation of 60,000 tons of gold to the United States required 650 flights, and the gold could allegedly be used for the “Global Economic Security and Reformation Act (GESARA).” The author also claimed that the gold had been used in the Vatican for criminal activities, mentioning secret experiments on humans and the intimidation of children.
A conspiracy theory is spreading, claiming that 60,000 tons of gold were found in the Vatican and transferred to the United States. The post is part of a long-running conspiracy narrative circulating on the internet for years. No open-source evidence exists to support the claim that gold was discovered in the Vatican and later transferred to the U.S.
In 2021, social media users claimed that a massive gold reserve had been discovered in the Vatican. The information quickly went viral (1;2) and attracted media attention. The posts were accompanied by photos, which, as later turned out, were not taken in the Vatican and were shared manipulatively.
AFP determined that the authors of these posts had used old photographs taken in England, Hungary, and other countries. It is also noteworthy that no reputable media outlet or official source, including Vatican media, confirmed any information about the extraction of large quantities of gold.
Information about gold allegedly discovered in the Vatican did not appear in reputable sources even in 2015. In her post, the Georgian-speaking Facebook user used the same photos. For example, the first photo, showing gold bars, has no connection to the Vatican. It was published by a Croatian media outlet in October 2016.
The second photo attached to the post actually shows the Bank of England, published by Bloomberg in 2020.
The third photo, showing gold bars wrapped in green bands, was published by the Hungarian National Bank in 2018. It is also unrelated to the Vatican.
The fourth photo, attached to the post, has circulated for years across various media and websites. Media outlets have been using this photo for various articles, and no evidence confirms that it depicts a Vatican gold vault. According to TinEye, the earliest identical image dates back to 2016.
The post also includes a photo collage combining several images.
In reality, the photo collage is not connected to the Vatican. One of its images, showing a man counting gold bars, is available on numerous websites and even sold as posters (1;2;3;4). There is no indication that it was taken in the Vatican.
Two of the collage’s images depict carriages owned by the British royal family (1;2;3).
The collage also includes photos from Queen Elizabeth II’s 2012 visit to the Bank of England’s vault (1;2).
Another widely circulated photo, showing a man in military uniform beside gold bars, was taken in Iraq in 2003, according to various reports.
In the description, the post’s author mentions the acronym GESARA, which frequently appears in conspiracy theories. GESARA stands for the Global Economic Security and Reformation Act. This is a fictional act in conspiracy theories that supposedly promises a global financial reset, aiming to eradicate poverty, cancel debts, abolish income taxes, and create a new currency system backed by precious metals.
Thus, the claim that 60,000 tons of gold were returned from the Vatican to the United States to implement the GESARA plan is a conspiracy theory. In reality, no such information can be found in open sources, and the photos used were not taken in the Vatican.
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