Fact check: New pope hit by wave of AI-generated fake news – DW – 05/27/2025
Pope Leo XIV has only been at the helm of the Catholic Church for a few weeks and there is already a myriad of false information circulating on social media using his likeness for political statements.
Ever since Pope Leo XIV has been elected the new Head of the Catholic Church, social media has been inundated with AI-generated deepfake videos and images claiming to show the new pontiff. The news portal of the Vatican has warned that fake messages attributed to the new pope are circulating online. DW's Fact check team takes a look at some of the claims.
Claim: Pope Leo XIV is said to have responded to a letter of Burkina Faso junta leader Ibrahim Traore in a video posted to YouTube. "I have read your words not once, but many times (…), because in your voice I have heard not merely the anger of a president, but the righteous cry of a continent long wounded by the dual blades of neglect and exploitation," the Pope is quoted in the video that's been shared in part on other social media platforms such as X.
DW Fact check: Fake
The 36-minute video took footage from a papal audience with journalists on May 12 as we found through a reverse image search. The video used a morphing technique to make the Pope's lip movements line up with the AI-generated audio recording. That's confirmed by Vatican News, the official news portal of the Holy See.
Meanwhile, the YouTube channel itself gives it away as well, buried after a long wall of text: "This video is a work of fiction" inspired by Traore who came to power in a 2022 coup condemned by the UN.
"While some elements are based on real events, the situations and dialogues described are entirely imaginary and do not reflect any actual events. Any resemblance to real-life facts is purely coincidental."
The video featured "altered or synthetic content," and "sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated," a disclaimer reads.
The Pope is just one of many prominent figures used by Traore's supporters to boost his image — AI-generated songs and videos using the likeness of stars such as Rihanna , Beyonce and Justin Bieber.
Pope Leo XIV allegedly commented on US President Donald Trump in a viral video Image: Instagram
Claim: The Pope allegedly criticized US President Donald Trump in a video shared on TikTok and Instagram. "Trump, the immigration policies you've implemented are a blatant trampling on both the teachings of the church and the promises of the American dream." Pope Leo XIV allegedly said he firmly opposed everything Trump stands for.
DW Fact check: Fake
The video is manipulated — the Pope has never made such statements. The Pope's speeches, addresses, and texts can be found in full at the official website vatican.va and news of his activities are available at vaticannews.va.
There are other giveaways that this video is not real but rather a manipulation: Pope Leo XIV was born as Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois in the US, and therefore his accent should be American one.
A closer look at the video shows the mouth movements of the Pope are blurry with frequent glitching around the microphone area. We found the original video where the Pope is talking to media representatives on May 12, published on the EWTN Global Catholic Network's channel. He doesn't mention Trump in his speech and is speaking Italian.
Fact check: 'True' crime deepfakes on TikTok
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Claim: "Pope Leo XIV intentionally ignored an LGBTQ rainbow flag by looking the other way when he approached it," a viral post on X with more than 12 million views claims.
DW Fact check: False
The Pope is seen walking along a corridor lined up with throngs of people, alternating between shaking hands to his left and right side. He is turning to the other side before the flag appears on screen, as seen in this original video published by Vatican News.
However, the multicolored "rainbow" flag in the video is not the LGBTQ flag: it's the Italian peace flag with the Italian word for peace (pace) on it.
The "pace" (Italian for peace) flag seen on the left has an additional shade of light blue compared to the LGBTQ flag Image: Buriakov/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/IMAGO | Alex Halada/AFP/Getty Images
While the two flags look similar, there are some key differences: The LGBTQ flag has six stripes, with red at the top and purple at the bottom, while the peace flag has seven stripes, with purple at the top and red at the bottom. It also features an extra shade of light blue.
As AI-generated content gets more sophisticated, it's important to be on the lookout for inconsistencies, double check sources and to report fake content to stop it from spreading further. Case in point: One YouTube channel posting fake sermons has since been shut down.
Edited by: Rayna Breuer and Rachel Baig
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