&Quot;Pope Francis&Quot;

Did President Joe Biden mention a "famous African-American baseball player" to Pope Francis? Yes, he did: But Biden was only setting up a metaphor about age. After the comment, Biden proceeded to tell the pope about Leroy "Satchel" Paige, a Negro leagues and major league pitcher who played professionally well into middle age. Biden used a quote from Paige to…

Have 229 Christian missionaries been sentenced to death "tomorrow afternoon" by "Afghan Islamists"? No, that's not true: Variations of this specific prayer request have been circulating since at least 2009 with some changes and various details added. The Taliban rapidly took over Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 and many people in that country faced dangerous situations, but there is…

Did Pope Francis die in mid-April 2021 and did a leading American conspiracy theorist break the "news"? No, that's not true: The pope made several public appearances that offer proof of life and Lin Wood's off-the-cuff comment was a question, not a declaration. The claim that Wood had revealed the pope's death circulated on numerous QAnon-linked websites and social media…

Was Pope Francis arrested in Vatican City after a supposed blackout and was he indicted for child trafficking and fraud? No, that's not true: there is no evidence for any of this and the claim went viral through a website run by an anonymous person using a fake identity that has published several other arrest hoaxes in the past. The…

Abbie Richards, a climate science student in the Netherlands, was looking with bewilderment at the state of her home country of the United States. So many conspiracy theories echoing, particularly ahead of the election. Struggling to wrangle all of them for a paper, she made a chart naming some 100 conspiracies dominating the social media world to, she hoped, make…

Do flight logs show that former President Bill Clinton visited Jeffrey Epstein's "pedo-island" but the media ignored it? No, that's not true: There are no flight logs that document Bill Clinton -- the only former U.S. president named in the logs -- as landing at Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean island. Yes, an Epstein victim did tell this to Lead Stories editor-in-chief…

Has Donald Trump rounded up, imprisoned and executed former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and scores of other notable people without anyone noticing or sounding the alarm? No, that's not true: Each person on the arrest and execution list has been recently seen in public and the conspiracy claim that those appearances are explained by body…

Did the Catholic Church forgive a pedophile priest with HIV who raped 30 children? No, that's not true: There is no evidence the priest the story claims was HIV-positive, raped 30 children and was forgiven by the Catholic church ever existed. The situation and person accused of raping children and being absolved by the church appears to be completely fabricated.…

Did a family of three -- who reportedly died within days of each other before testing positive for the novel coronavirus -- actually exist? No, that's not true: This fictional story featuring the made-up family was presented to audiences in at least nine different cities around the world as if it had happened in their town. The stories are all…

Did Elisa Granato, a volunteer in the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trial, die just two days after receiving the experimental injection? No, that's not true: Granato woke up on April 25, read a fake news story about her own demise, and responded that she was alive and well. The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by n5ti.com on April…