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2 days ago
- Business
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What we know about reports Nancy Mace ordered staffers to create burner accounts to promote her online.
In late May 2025, a rumor spread online that U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, ordered her staffers to create burner accounts on social media to promote her. (A burner account is a social media account created "for the purpose of remaining anonymous.") Claims spread on X, Facebook, Bluesky and Reddit. While some posts presented the claim as an allegation, others presented it as fact. The rumor appeared to originate with reporting from Wired, a reputable tech magazine, which ran a story on May 28 titled, "Nancy Mace's Former Staff Claim She Had Them Create Burner Accounts to Promote Her." The keyword here is claim: The Wired story does not present the statement that Mace ordered her staffers to create burner accounts as 100% factual, instead treating it as an allegation made by anonymous former staff members. Similarly, Snopes cannot put a fact-check rating on this story because there is not enough verifiable public evidence definitively proving or disproving the claim. With that said, here is what we do know about the allegations. Wired's story, written by senior politics writer Jake Lahut, relies on anonymous sources identified as former Mace staffers. These sources requested anonymity "because they fear reprisal from their former boss," per Lahut's article. Snopes could not, as of this writing, independently verify the legitimacy of Lahut's sources; Lahut said via a polite email that he could not make any promises about helping Snopes with its verification process in the immediate future due to his own workload. Here are the claims as presented in the Wired story: A principal—and unusual—use to which Mace put her skills, according to former staffers, was setting up burner accounts on a variety of social media platforms to monitor what people were saying about her and bolster her image. They also claim she requested that staffers make their own burner accounts to defend her online. "We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren't true—even Reddit forums," a former staffer says. "We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents." Mace's communications director, Sydney Long, disputed the allegations. "Nancy Mace's Communications Director here, can confidently say I've never been asked to make a burner account," Long wrote in a May 28 X post. "This isn't the hit y'all think it is." In an email to Snopes, Long wrote, "I would give you an additional comment but we're too busy creating burner accounts, according to former staff. (sarcasm)." "As Congresswoman Mace's Communications Director, I can say with complete confidence: I've never been asked to create a burner account, and the suggestion is laughable," Long's email continued. Long did not provide Mace's reaction to the story, but Mace appeared to acknowledge the Wired story in a May 29 X post, in which she said: "Comment your burner account below." One popular post on Facebook claimed that Mace's former staff "said under oath" they had to create burner accounts to promote Mace. That's a misunderstanding of Wired's reporting, which instead described an April 28 deposition of a former consultant for Mace, Wesley Donehue, who reportedly said under oath that Mace sets up her own burner accounts and bots on social media. The deposition makes no mention of Mace ordering staff to set up burner accounts or bots. As for the legitimacy of the deposition in question: While it does not seem to appear in Charleston's court case search system, a document available in the system mentions the deposition on Page 7, suggesting it is legitimate. Lawyers named in the deposition did not immediately return a request to verify its authenticity. Here is the relevant portion of Donehue's statement on Page 10 — or Page 40, if you're using the page numbers of the original document instead of the PDF — first published by conservative South Carolina news outlet FITSNews on May 21 (emphasis ours): Nancy Mace is quite the -- when I use the word "nerd" or "geek," it's always favorable, but a computer nerd or a computer geek. She programs her own bots, she sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she's very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It's what she does for fun. Lawyers representing Mace's former fiance, Patrick Bryant, deposed Donehue after South Carolina law enforcement reportedly interviewed him in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations made by Mace against Bryant. (Bryant has repeatedly denied these allegations.) While Donehue publicly disparaged Mace and said that he fired her as a client, FITSNews reported that Donehue initially refused to give a statement. Snopes previously examined Mace's claim she was physically accosted by a man who shook her hand and a rumor that she vandalized her own home. Bryant, Patrick. "Patrick Bryant - I Categorically Deny the False and Outrageous..." 20 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Byrd, Caitlin. "Here's What We Know about the 4 Men Accused of Sexual Assault in Rep. Nancy Mace Speech." Post and Courier, 12 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Donehue, Wesley. "I Was Very Involved in This Entire Nancy Mace Story and Ultimately It's Why I Left Her Campaign. I've Typed up 40 Different Tweets That I Wanted to Send ..." X (Formerly Twitter), 10 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. ---. "You Can Stop Texting Me. I Fired Nancy Mace as Client a Few Months Back Because I'm a Political Consultant and Not a Babysitter..." X (formerly Twitter), 20 Dec. 2024, Accessed 29 May 2025. FITSNews. "Bombshell Deposition: Nancy Mace's Former Strategist Unloads." FITSNews - Politics, Sports and Pop Culture, FITSNews, 21 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Friedman, Amanda. "Mace, Alleging Assault, Shares Nude Photo of Herself during House Hearing She Says Was Taken without Her Consent." POLITICO, Politico, 20 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Jake Lahut." WIRED, Accessed 29 May 2025. Kinnard, Meg. "Rep. Nancy Mace Accuses Ex-Fiancé, Associates of Misconduct in House Speech." AP News, 11 Feb. 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Lahut, Jake. "Nancy Mace's Former Staff Claim She Had Them Create Burner Accounts to Promote Her." WIRED, 28 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Long, Sydney. "Nancy Mace's Communications Director Here, Can Confidently Say I've Never Been Asked to Make a Burner Account. This Isn't the Hit Y'all Think It Is." X (Formerly Twitter), 28 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Mace, Nancy. "Comment Your Burner Account Below⬇️." X (Formerly Twitter), 29 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Merriam-Webster Dictionary | Burner Account." 16 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Mullaney, Marybeth. Jane Doe v. Patrick Bryant, John Osborne, Eric Bowman and Pommer Group LLC. | PLAINTIFF'S MOTION to PROCEED under a PSEUDONYM pursuant to RULE 10 of the SOUTH CAROLINA RULES of CIVIL PROCEDURE. 29 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
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No proof Jelly Roll announced he would invest $20M to create dog sanctuary and rescue
Around May 12, 2025, a claim circulated (archived) that the American rapper and singer Jelly Roll announced he would invest $20 million to create a sanctuary dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating stray dogs. (Facebook user IBa Jannant Eba) The claim read: BREAKING NEWS: Jelly Roll broke the internet with a shocking announcement: he will invest $20 million to build a "paradise" dedicated to rescuing stray dogs, promising love and homes to thousands of abandoned puppies Country music star Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, has long been celebrated for his heartfelt lyrics and philanthropic endeavors. Building upon his commitment to making a positive impact, Jelly Roll has announced plans to invest $20 million into creating a sanctuary dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating stray dogs. The claim appeared mainly on Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived). Snopes readers wrote in to ask if it was true. However, we found no proof that the claim, though heartwarming, was true. There was no trace of the alleged announcement on Jelly Roll's official Instagram or TikTok pages. We also found (archived) no (archived) reports (archived) from credible news sources about the alleged $20 million investment. Additionally, text and two images that circulated with the claim showed signs of being the products of artificial intelligence (AI) software. We reached out to Jelly Roll's label Stoney Creek Records and representatives at AAE Music, the singer's booking agency, to ask if the claim was true. We await their replies. The claim about Jelly Roll's alleged dog sanctuary investment had the air of copypasta — a copied-and-pasted text shared online. Identical versions of the text on Facebook and Instagram were equally vague about the details of Jelly Roll's alleged investment. The text said nothing about where the alleged sanctuary would be built, the timeline for the project or whether it involved working with any established animal rescue groups. a website that can detect whether a sample of text was AI-generated, said the copy-pasted text was "most likely" generated by AI. Hive Moderation and Sightengine, two websites that can detect AI in photos, said it was highly likely that two photos from the post allegedly showing Jelly Roll embracing various dogs were AI-generated. Another photo of Jelly Roll that circulated with the claim was real. (Sightengine/Hive Moderation/ Illustration) Regardless of the truth of this particular claim, Jelly Roll is a confirmed dog owner. In 2024, he told (archived) the comedian Steve-O about Bussie the Bus Dog, a basset hound who became his longtime tour companion. Snopes has previously reported on claims that Taylor Swift refused to perform at a charity concert alongside artists including Jelly Roll. AI Detector - Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT4 & Gemini. Accessed 12 May 2025. "AI Image Detector. Detect AI-Generated Media at Scale." Sightengine, Accessed 12 May 2025. Hive Moderation. Accessed 12 May 2025. "Jelly Roll Attends The 2025 Pollstar Awards at The Beverly Hilton On..." Getty Images, 17 Apr. 2025, "Jellyroll615." Instagram, Accessed 12 May 2025. "@officialjellyroll." TikTok, Accessed 12 May 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
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Unpacking rumors that DOGE and RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently enrolled in Medicaid
In May 2025, a claim spread online that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the U.S. discovered 8 million people fraudulently enrolled in Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people. While U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that 8 million people are on Medicaid because of "fraud, waste and abuse," and that DOGE helped determine this, there is no evidence backing up the claim that this number originated from DOGE's work. However, the Congressional Budget Office did estimate that approximately 7.6 million or 7.7 million people would lose Medicaid coverage under U.S. President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which appears to be where Kennedy's numbers come from. Kennedy also claimed, as did many people online, that of the 8 million, 1 million are enrolled in Medicaid in multiple states, about 1 million enrollees are immigrants in the country illegally and another million are enrolled in plans under both Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. However, there is no publicly available documented proof of the double enrollment numbers — for both multiple states and multiple plans — and the enrollees who do not have legal immigration status are on Medicaid through state-sanctioned and -funded programming, not federal funding. In mid-2025, a rumor circulated online that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found 8 million people fraudulently enrolled in Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people. The claim spread primarily on Facebook but could also be found on X. Snopes readers also searched the website for information on the claims about Medicaid fraud and DOGE. "DOGE drops the facts, and RFK Jr. confirms it — 8 million people are on Medicaid who shouldn't be," many of the posts read. The text from the post above appears to be copypasta, or misinformation in the form of copied and pasted text, as it reads word-for-word the same in many of the claims reviewed by Snopes. U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did allege that 8 million people on Medicaid would be affected by the administration's efforts to cut "fraud, waste and abuse" in the program. However, there is no evidence that DOGE made this discovery — nor did Kennedy provide any proof for his claim. In fact, the number appears to come from preliminary estimates by the Congressional Budget Office on how many people may lose health insurance coverage if Trump's massive legislative budget package — called the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" — becomes law without undergoing any changes. Furthermore, Kennedy's claim that these 8 million people represent "fraud, waste and abuse" is in part a matter of opinion, not fact. Asked via email whether DOGE could be credited for this, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields requested Snopes provide an example of the claim. Snopes provided this post from a Facebook account titled, "Donald Trump For President," to which Fields said the White House would not comment on unofficial Republican accounts. After clarifying that the claim spread widely online and may have originated from Kennedy, we did not hear back. We also reached out to DOGE and await a response. The Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for more information on where Kennedy's numbers came from. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Feb. 5, 2025, officials granted DOGE access to Medicaid systems in its widespread search for fraud. On May 14, 2025, Kennedy said during a committee hearing that "because of DOGE," the agency found 8 million people on Medicaid who would be affected by cuts made for reasons of "fraud, waste and abuse." However, if DOGE did make this discovery, they did not appear to make any public announcement about it. The public face of DOGE, tech billionaire Elon Musk, often makes major announcements through his X page — and a search for "Medicaid" on his X profile returned no results concerning 8 million fraudulent enrollees. DOGE similarly uses X for public statements, and a search of its page for "Medicaid" also returned no relevant results as of this writing. Musk did claim in an X post on Feb. 10, 2025, without providing evidence, that the "magnitude of fraud in federal entitlements," including Medicaid, "exceeds the combined sum of every private scam you've ever heard by FAR." This post did not include hard data or any supposed number of fraudulent enrollees. DOGE releases dollar amounts of its purported savings on its website, but there was not a section for the number of people that the agency supposedly caught committing fraud as of this writing. No reputable news outlets have credited this supposed discovery to DOGE as of publication, and if the claim were true — or if Musk even claimed it was — it would certainly make news. Kennedy's comments during the May 14 committee hearing were in reference to cuts that would be made to Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Here is the full exchange between Kennedy and Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif.; see 1:53:00 (emphasis ours): KENNEDY: The cuts to Medicaid are for fraud, waste and abuse, and I'll tell you what that means. It means because of DOGE — and it's about 8 million people who would be affected — because of DOGE, we were able to determine that there are a million people who are claiming Medicaid from multiple states. That's illegal. It's theft. You're not allowed to do that. There are another million people who are collecting both under Obamacare and — HARDER: Mr. Secretary. That has nothing to do with the budget that is actually being proposed — KENNEDY: These are the only cuts that are being made. These are the only cuts that are being made to Medicaid. HARDER: That's not true. KENNEDY: Yes it is. There are another million illegal aliens. We announced the law yesterday, we're not going to pay illegal aliens anymore. The first public reference available of this "8 million" number appears to be a May 11 preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which found that "at least" 7.7 million people may lose health insurance coverage by 2034 if the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" became law without undergoing any changes. An updated May 18, 2025, estimate from CBO, available for download here (go to the "Title IV — Commerce and Energy" tab after downloading and scroll to the very end), said "the number of people without health insurance would increase by 8.6 million in 2034," with 7.6 million of that number attributable to Medicaid cuts and another 1 million attributable to the Affordable Care Act. CBO cautioned that it has not yet completed "estimates for effects on spending subject to appropriation and estimates of the effects of interactions among titles of the legislation," meaning these numbers are subject to change. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has also undergone changes since being passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, and is likely to undergo even more changes once it reaches debate in the Senate. It must pass both chambers and be signed by Trump in order to become law. Kennedy's explanation as to why the 8 million who would be cut from Medicaid represent "waste, fraud and abuse" largely matches with the text from the copypasta, seen below: Over 1 million are double-dipping, illegally getting Medicaid from two different states. Another 1.4 million are undocumented immigrants — and they're being handed benefits funded by your tax dollars. On top of that, another million are illegally enrolled in both Medicaid and Obamacare. Not all of these numbers are available in public documents, making it impossible to check every claim made here, so let's start by looking at the claim that is possible to fact-check. The claim that 1.4 million immigrants in the country illegally are on Medicaid comes from the May 18, 2025, CBO estimate (emphasis ours): Included in that 8.6 million total are an estimated 1.4 million people without verified citizenship, nationality, or satisfactory immigration status who, if section 41110 were enacted, would no longer be covered in state-only funded programs in 2034. While such immigrants are largely ineligible for federal health insurance, Medicaid is a joint state and federal program — and some states offer Medicaid or Medicaid-like benefits to people without legal immigration status using state funds, which is what CBO references. Thus, legally speaking, those immigrants who enroll through state-sanctioned Medicaid programs aren't committing fraud or abuse. (On the federal spending level, noncitizen immigrants — both with and without legal authorization — can be eligible for emergency Medicaid services, but the government doesn't keep track of an immigrant's legal status when collecting data on emergency Medicaid usage, making it impossible to tell how many undocumented immigrants have benefited from these services, per a 2024 letter sent to U.S. representatives.) As for the claim that 1 million enrollees are "double-dipping" into Medicaid from two different states, that is both illegal and a legitimate issue, according to a 2022 audit by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General. (See Page 2 under "Federal Requirements" for the law on receiving benefits in two different states.) However, this audit found that the total number of beneficiaries concurrently enrolled in two different states was 327,497 as of August 2020; in August 2019, it was 208,254 (see pages 14 and 15). Thus, the most recent numbers available as of this writing aren't close to 1 million (see the first summary page). It is possible that the number of "double-dippers" has increased to 1 million, but that number isn't publicly available as of this writing. Finally, Snopes could not find any data on the number of people who are enrolled in both Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid. However, in 2016, the federal government did crack down on duplicate enrollments, per a New York Times story; in that report, Judith Solomon, then-vice president of the progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said there is not really a benefit to "double-dipping" into both insurance plans. Eligibility for either ACA plans or Medicaid can change based on a person's or family's income level or other factors, meaning Americans often find themselves swapping between the two types of plans. The federal government provides a guide online for ending one form of coverage or the other, as overlap between the two is common; the IRS also provides tax guidance on overlapping coverage. Here's the math: According to the copypasta, 8 million people are fraudulently on Medicaid — 1.4 million of whom are immigrants in the country illegally, 1 million who are double-dipping into Medicaid in multiple states and an additional 1 million on plans under both Medicaid and Obamacare. That totals 3.4 million, meaning there are 4.6 million people unaccounted for. During the May 14 committee hearing, Kennedy said about 4.8 million people cut from Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would become ineligible because they aren't employed. "The last category is adults who are able-bodied, who refuse to look for a job, to volunteer, to get a job or to show — to take a part-time job," Kennedy said (at 1:54:25). Multiple Republican lawmakers also cited this number during a May 13 House committee hearing; at least one attributed it to CBO — but if this is a CBO estimate, it has not yet been released publicly. Snopes reached out to several Republican lawmakers who shared the number in the hearing to ask for documented proof and await their reply. CBO would not share its estimate or related documents with Snopes. To summarize, there is no public evidence, aside from Kennedy's claim, that DOGE deserves credit for the alleged discovery of 8 million people fraudulently on Medicaid. The numbers and categories of supposedly fraudulent enrollees from the post come from either Kennedy, who did not provide proof, or estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. While enrollment in multiple states or multiple plans is a legitimate issue, it's unclear if the numbers shared are accurate. Furthermore, the 1.4 million immigrants in the country illegally on Medicaid — as estimated by CBO — are on the program through state funding, not federal. "Affordable Care Act - Return Preparer Best Practices." Internal Revenue Service, 7 Apr. 2016, Accessed 21 May 2025. Broder, Tanya. "Health Care Coverage (Maps)." NILC, 16 Oct. 2024, Accessed 21 May 2025. "CMS Statement on Collaboration with DOGE | CMS." 5 Feb. 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. Congressional Budget Office. Subject: E&c Reconciliation Recommendations. 11 May 2025, Accessed 23 May 2025. DOGE. "DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency." DOGE: Department of Government Efficiency, Accessed 21 May 2025. "Doge 8 Million People on Medicaid - Google Search." 2024, Accessed 21 May 2025. Dorning, Courtney, et al. "DOGE Sets Its Sights on Medicare and Medicaid." NPR, 10 Feb. 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. "Estimated Budgetary Effects of a Bill to Provide for Reconciliation pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act." Congressional Budget Office, 20 May 2025, Accessed 23 May 2025. "From:DOGE Medicaid - Search / X." 21 May 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. "From:elonmusk Medicaid - Search / X." 21 May 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. Grimm, Christi. " NEARLY ALL STATES MADE CAPITATION PAYMENTS for BENEFICIARIES WHO WERE CONCURRENTLY ENROLLED in a MEDICAID MANAGED CARE PROGRAM in TWO STATES." Sept. 2022, Accessed 21 May 2025. House Appropriations Committee. "Budget Hearing – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services." YouTube, 16 May 2025, Accessed 23 May 2025. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. "Full Committee Markup of Budget Reconciliation Text Part 1." 13 May 2025, Accessed 23 May 2025. MACPAC. "Overview of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid : MACPAC." 31 Mar. 2022, Accessed 21 May 2025. Mathews, Anna Wilde, and Liz Essley Whyte. "DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud." Wall Street Journal, 5 Feb. 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. Musk, Elon. "At This Point, I Am 100% Certain That the Magnitude of the Fraud in Federal Entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Disability, Etc) Exceeds the Combined Sum of Every Private Scam You've Ever Heard by FAR. It's Not Even Close." X (Formerly Twitter), 10 Feb. 2025, Accessed 21 May 2025. Pear, Robert. "U.S. Officials Move to End Duplicate Health Care Coverage." The New York Times, 19 Aug. 2016, Accessed 21 May 2025. "Press Room." Accessed 21 May 2025. Snopes Staff. "Copypasta." Snopes, 21 Aug. 2019, Accessed 21 May 2025. Swagel, Phillip. "Re: Emergency Medicaid Services for Certain Non-U.S. Nationals ." 2024, Accessed 21 May 2025. "Take Action When You Have Marketplace Coverage along with Medicaid or CHIP Coverage." Accessed 21 May 2025. USAGov. "How to Get Insurance through the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace | USAGov." 6 Dec. 2023, Accessed 21 May 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What we know about Pope Leo XIV's scheduled video appearance at Chicago event
In late May 2025, numerous Snopes readers asked about the accuracy of reports that Pope Leo XIV would participate in a June 14 event in Chicago. Many wanted to know specifically if the pope would be leading Mass via video message in Rate Field, home of the White Sox baseball team. Numerous posts on X and Facebook noted that Pope Leo was planning to perform the Mass — the Catholic liturgical service — for the occasion. A few posts noted that the Mass would be held on the same day as U.S. President Donald Trump's "birthday military parade." We can confirm that Pope Leo will deliver a video message at an event celebrating the newly elected pontiff in Rate Field in Chicago but he will not participate in the Mass. As of this writing, we do not know the details of his speech. We reached out to the Holy See's office and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Yasmin Quiroz, a spokesperson at the Chicago Archdiocese's office told us that Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, would be the main celebrant and homilist — meaning he would deliver a short lecture on a moral theme during Mass. The pope would send a video message but would not be a part of the Mass. Quiroz noted that the pope's video message would be recorded in advance. They had not yet received it as of this writing, so they did not know how long it would be. Per the Archdiocese of Chicago's website, on June 14, Pope Leo "will greet us in Chicago and offer a special video message to the young people of the world, which will be broadcast first from our event." The event is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. that day and Mass will take place at 4 p.m. (Screenshot via Tickets are available on May 30 via Ticketmaster. Cupich also released a video message saying the event would be a celebration of Pope Leo: According to the Catholic News Agency, the event will include music, film, a Mass, and in-person testimonials about the pope. As we have reported previously, Pope Leo grew up in Chicago. According to his family, he is also a supporter of Chicago's White Sox baseball team. Trump will mark June 14 with a military parade in Washington, D.C. June 14, 1775, was the date the Continental Army was officially created and is considered the U.S. Army's official birthday. It also happens to be Trump's birthday. The Archdiocese's office denied any connection between the chosen date for Chicago's celebration for the pope and the military parade in Washington D.C. "It was the soonest Saturday when the White Sox were not playing and there was no major festival or concert nearby. The choice had nothing to do with celebrations elsewhere," Quiroz said. "A Special Invitation from Cardinal Blase Cupich." YouTube, CatholicChicago, 17 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Ask the Register: How Long Can a Homily Be?" Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, 3 Mar. 2023, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich." The College of Cardinals Report, 23 Nov. 2024, Accessed 29 May 2025. Christensen, Laerke. "No Proof Pope Leo XIV Played Jazz Trombone under the Name 'Bobby Prev.'" Snopes, 9 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Cooper, Helene. "Trump Is Getting the Military Parade He Wanted in His First Term." The New York Times, 27 May 2025. Accessed 29 May 2025. "Pope Leo XIV." Archdiocese of Chicago. Accessed 29 May 2025. "Pope Leo XIV to Address Youth by Video at June 14 Chicago Event." Catholic News Agency, Accessed 29 May 2025. Waldstein, David. "A Pope Who Ministers to the Suffering? Yup, He's a White Sox Fan." The New York Times, 10 May 2025. Accessed 29 May 2025.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What we know about Pope Leo XIV's scheduled video appearance at Chicago event
In late May 2025, numerous Snopes readers asked about the accuracy of reports that Pope Leo XIV would participate in a June 14 event in Chicago. Many wanted to know specifically if the pope would be leading Mass via video message in Rate Field, home of the White Sox baseball team. Numerous posts on X and Facebook noted that Pope Leo was planning to perform the Mass — the Catholic liturgical service — for the occasion. A few posts noted that the Mass would be held on the same day as U.S. President Donald Trump's "birthday military parade." IS THE POPE TRYING TO EMBARASS?Pope Leo will be celebrating a mass in Chicago on the same day as Trump's birthday military parade. The Chicago crowd is estimated to top 1 million people... far larger than the expectations for the thoughts? — Lovable Liberal and his Old English sheepdog (@DougWahl1) May 29, 2025 We can confirm that Pope Leo will deliver a video message at an event celebrating the newly elected pontiff in Rate Field in Chicago but he will not participate in the Mass. As of this writing, we do not know the details of his speech. We reached out to the Holy See's office and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Yasmin Quiroz, a spokesperson at the Chicago Archdiocese's office told us that Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, would be the main celebrant and homilist — meaning he would deliver a short lecture on a moral theme during Mass. The pope would send a video message but would not be a part of the Mass. Quiroz noted that the pope's video message would be recorded in advance. They had not yet received it as of this writing, so they did not know how long it would be. Per the Archdiocese of Chicago's website, on June 14, Pope Leo "will greet us in Chicago and offer a special video message to the young people of the world, which will be broadcast first from our event." The event is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. that day and Mass will take place at 4 p.m. (Screenshot via Tickets are available on May 30 via Ticketmaster. Cupich also released a video message saying the event would be a celebration of Pope Leo: According to the Catholic News Agency, the event will include music, film, a Mass, and in-person testimonials about the pope. As we have reported previously, Pope Leo grew up in Chicago. According to his family, he is also a supporter of Chicago's White Sox baseball team. Trump will mark June 14 with a military parade in Washington, D.C. June 14, 1775, was the date the Continental Army was officially created and is considered the U.S. Army's official birthday. It also happens to be Trump's birthday. The Archdiocese's office denied any connection between the chosen date for Chicago's celebration for the pope and the military parade in Washington D.C. "It was the soonest Saturday when the White Sox were not playing and there was no major festival or concert nearby. The choice had nothing to do with celebrations elsewhere," Quiroz said. "A Special Invitation from Cardinal Blase Cupich." YouTube, CatholicChicago, 17 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Ask the Register: How Long Can a Homily Be?" Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, 3 Mar. 2023, Accessed 29 May 2025. "Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich." The College of Cardinals Report, 23 Nov. 2024, Accessed 29 May 2025. Christensen, Laerke. "No Proof Pope Leo XIV Played Jazz Trombone under the Name 'Bobby Prev.'" Snopes, 9 May 2025, Accessed 29 May 2025. Cooper, Helene. "Trump Is Getting the Military Parade He Wanted in His First Term." The New York Times, 27 May 2025. Accessed 29 May 2025. "Pope Leo XIV." Archdiocese of Chicago. Accessed 29 May 2025. "Pope Leo XIV to Address Youth by Video at June 14 Chicago Event." Catholic News Agency, Accessed 29 May 2025. Waldstein, David. "A Pope Who Ministers to the Suffering? Yup, He's a White Sox Fan." The New York Times, 10 May 2025. Accessed 29 May 2025.
