Following the death of Pope Francis, various types of content, including videos and photos, were circulated on Facebook on April 27 and 28:
- A video filmed before the pope’s funeral shows what is claimed to be upside-down crosses. In the comments, people link this imagery to “satanism.”
- A letter was posted (1;2;3), allegedly written by the pope from a hospital in Rome. It begins with the words: “The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches… They have witnessed far more sincere kisses than those in airports…” The letter was published by News.ge and the media center Mtavari.
- A circulated photo collage claims that the Pope was a woman. Alongside various photos of Pope Francis taken throughout his life, there is an image of the pope with long hair and makeup.
- A photo has also been shared that supposedly shows the pope saying goodbye to his dog before death.
It is noteworthy that some of the accounts sharing this content are Facebook profiles known for frequently spreading disinformation.
Pope Francis’s death has been followed by the spread of false information on social media, including fake quotes and visual manipulations: 1) The “upside-down crosses” are not satanic symbols — the video actually shows a Christian symbol, the Cross of Saint Peter. 2) The letter circulating on social media was not written by the pope. No official source contains any such statement. 3) The photos claiming the pope is biologically female have been digitally manipulated. 4) The photo of Pope Francis supposedly saying goodbye to his dog before death was generated using artificial intelligence.
-
The “Upside-Down Crosses” Are Not Satanic Symbols
The video where, according to the Facebook post’s author, upside-down crosses are seen and labeled as satanic symbols features St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Pope Francis was laid in repose at St. Peter’s Basilica prior to the funeral planned for April 26. In other videos shared on social media from the location, “inverted” crosses can also be seen behind the area where the pope was lying in state. One such video was published by Vatican News.
There are no “satanic symbols” displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica. The cross shown in the footage is a Christian symbol known as the Cross of Saint Peter. The reason the cross appears “upside-down” is because Saint Peter was crucified head down (1;2). This was at his own request, as he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ
The same video, which falsely claims to depict satanic symbolism, has also been fact-checked by Lead Stories.
-
The Circulated Letter Does Not Belong to Pope Francis
The letter circulating on social media does not belong to Pope Francis. Notably, the same content has also been shared by English-speaking users online (1; 2). The letter was published on April 24 on a website that, according to its description, belongs to an “Association of Catholic Priests.” However, the headline clearly states that the letter was not written by the Pope.
No such letter can be found in open sources or in reputable media outlets (1;2;3). Moreover, the letter does not appear on the Vatican’s official website or on Vatican News (1;2).
The fact-checking organization Snopes has also fact-checked the claim about the Pope’s letter. It was unable to find any credible source confirming that the letter was genuinely written by Pope Francis. Snopes did, however, trace similar content back to 2018, when a letter under the Pope’s name circulated online, and it also found that the phrases about the church, hospital, and airport appeared as early as 2014 on popsugar.com, though no author was credited.
-
Digitally Altered Photos of the Pope
Photos of Pope Francis, which are being used to claim he was a woman, have been digitally altered. In altered images where the Pope appears with long hair, real photos of him were used, so, the original photos appear on the left side.
For example, in the collage above, the left-side image is the original, used to create the manipulated version. This particular photo can be found across multiple sources and, according to the descriptions, is credited to Reuters photographer Alessandro Bianchi, who has taken many other photos of the Pope.
Another digitally altered image in the collage shows Pope Francis as a child. Once again, the left-side image is the original, while the right-side version is manipulated. This childhood photo of Pope Francis has been published by many reputable outlets, including CNN and BBC.
One photo in the collage, which does not include its original version, is also digitally manipulated. The Pope’s photo that was later modified can be found in open sources (1;2).
A photo has also circulated on social media, claiming to show the Pope saying goodbye to his dog.
In reality, the image is AI-generated. This is evident from its “smooth” and unnatural appearance – a typical feature of AI-generated pictures. Upon close inspection of details like hair and hands, one can notice flaws typical of AI-generated images. For example, in the photo, the skin and hair “blend” and look unnatural, and the fingers are disproportionate – one finger in particular appears unusually thin at the phalanges.
The image was cross-checked using websites that detect AI-generated photos. AI or Not labeled the image as “Likely AI Generated.” Another AI detector (Is it AI?) assessed it as 99% AI-generated.
It is also worth noting that there is no verified information from open sources confirming that the Pope had a pet or said goodbye to a dog before his death. The circulated image has not appeared in any media outlets. Foreign-language users also shared claims that the Pope’s dog refused to leave his grave after the funeral. Snopes fact-checked this story as well and rated it as false.
Myth Detector fact-checked a video following the Pope’s death, which falsely claimed to depict a satanic ritual during his funeral.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
