&Quot;Pope Francis&Quot;

Did Pope Francis step down over a sexual abuse coverup? No, that's not true, even though a fake news site pretending to be the New York Times is claiming he did. None of it is true. The story originated from an article published on nytiwes.com (not nytimes.com) on titled "Pope Francis Steps Down Over Sexual Abuse Coverup" (archived here) which…

Did Pope Francis cut his visit to Ireland short in order to investigate some financial irregularities of a small island parish? No, that's not true: a satirical website made up the story using details from the fictional television show "Father Ted". It is not real. The story originated from an article published by the Southend News Network on August 25,…

Did the Pope claim the catholic religion was "a load of bollocks" at a mass during his visit to Ireland? No, that's not true: the story making the claim was made up by a satirical website, it is not real. Don't just believe anything people on the internet tell you... The story originated from an article published by the Waterford…

Did Pope Francis really say he was going to address the latest sex abuse scandal to hit the Catholic Church but only after he is finished talking about climate change? No, that's not true: the statement was made up by a Christian-themed satire website, it is not real, although many people believed it at first. The story originated from an…

Did the U.K. government "accidentally" sell 10,000 children to child traffickers? No, that's not true: the claim was made by a site that takes real news articles and then adds some invented facts to the headline and first paragraphs of its own version of the story, often involving pedophiles or conspiracies. The people behind the site presumably do this to…

Did Angela Merkel or the German government ban German media from reporting on a migrant who also killed his 1-year-old daughter when he murdered his ex-wife in a stabbing attack? No, that's not true: the story and the killer's motives were widely reported in Germany right after the attack happened in April 2018. The claim that the German goverment tried…

Will Australian parents who don't vaccinate their children get bankrupted by the state? No, that's not really true: the claim was made by a website that habitually takes bits of real news and then adds an incendiary headline of its own in order to get people to click through to their website so they can earn money via advertising. The…

Will Judge Jeanine Pirro be the next justice on the Supreme Court and has President Donald Trump confirmed this? No, that's not true. The news was made up by a site that likes to take tidbits of real news and events and then adds a headline to their own version of the story to make it more clickbait-worthy in order…

Did the BBC report Pope Francis said "Real God is not a relgion, the relationship with your God is what matters"? No, that's not true: that quote was attributed to him by a website pretending to be BBC radio but which appears to be a new website by or inspired by the same people who ran a network of fake…

Was Clare Bronfman, the heiress to the Seagram fortune who was indicted in the case surrounding the NXIVM sex cult, a former Clinton aide? No, that's not true: she was just one of many donors to Hillary Clinton's campaign but she played no direct role in it. She was certainly not one of "her closest aides". That story was made…