&Quot;Pope Francis&Quot;

Do viral images of Russian President Vladimir Putin actually show him being arrested? No, that's not true: The "photos" were created by AI-based software, and, as of this writing, Putin is not under arrest, despite a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. The claim appeared in a post published on Facebook on March 26, 2023. It contained a video…

Did Pope Francis appear walking on the street wearing a high-fashion white puffer coat? No, that's not true: This image is one of a series of four AI-generated images which were posted on the subreddit forum r/midjourney, "an official subreddit for Midjourney related content." Midjourney is an artificial intelligence program that creates images from natural language prompts. The images were…

Did Pope Francis say that pedophiles have a special place in heaven? No, that's not true: There is no record of Pope Francis saying that, as an article in NewsPunch claims. Other quotes in this article are real quotes from the pope that were taken out of context and their meaning reversed. The article was published by NewsPunch on February…

Did Mother Teresa sell children from her shelters in India? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to support that claim, but a nun and another worker at a shelter for unwed mothers run by Mother Teresa's charity were arrested in 2018 and accused of selling babies, The Associated Press and other news organizations reported. The claim appeared in a…

Does a picture grid showing more than a dozen famous people, all of them with what seem to be black eyes, prove they got them from the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: All the images shown in the social media post were taken before December 2020, when the shots first became available. The claim appeared on Instagram on November…

Did Pope Francis write an inspirational quote that begins, "Rivers do not drink their own water"? No, that's not true: A Vatican spokeswoman told Lead Stories the quote was not authentic. The same quote is attributed to other spiritual leaders, and scholars say the quote probably has roots in an old Sanskrit proverb. The claim appeared in an Instagram post…

Are Pope Francis, the late Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Joe Biden members of the same family? No, that's not true: There is no evidence supporting this online rumor, which recycles a 24-year-old conspiracy theory. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram on October 14, 2022. The caption says: I KNOW SOME WEIRD SHIT WHEN I SEE SOME…

Did Pope Francis slap Donald Trump's hand away when Trump tried to hold his hand? No, that's not true: The pope and Trump did meet at the Vatican on May 24, 2017, but the hand-touching clip is not real. That clip is from "Jimmy Kimmel Live," a late-night TV talk show. A good indicator that this clip is fake is…

Did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas claim "aborted fetus cells" are in COVID vaccines in writing a decision by the Court to not take up a legal challenge by New York health care workers who opposed the state's vaccine mandate on religious grounds? No, that's not true: Thomas was quoting the petitioners' argument in the case. COVID vaccines are developed…

Does the Rothschild family have an amassed wealth of $2 trillion? Do the pope and Vatican City have a net worth of $20 trillion? No, a post making those claims does not substantiate the numbers. Both of these groups are extremely wealthy, but those numbers are not accurate based on public information. The Rothschilds' investment banking company had a net…