Did Bill Clinton and Pope Francis call for "urgent depopulation" to save the planet? No, that's not true: The pope and former President Clinton had a public conversation in September 2023 during the Clinton Global Initiative 2023 meeting where they spoke about climate change but never discussed "urgent depopulation," according to the official transcripts of the event. The website that published the article making this claim does not stand by the accuracy of what it publishes.
The claim appeared in an article published by The People's Voice on September 24, 2023, titled "Bill Clinton and Pope Francis Call for 'Urgent Depopulation' To Save the Planet - The People's Voice" (archived here). It opened:
Bill Clinton and Pope Francis have joined forces to urge world leaders to pursue human depopulation as a strategy for saving the planet from so-called 'global boiling.'
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Bill Clinton and Pope Francis Call for 'Urgent Depopulation' To Save the Planet - The People's Voice
Bill Clinton and Pope Francis have joined forces to urge world leaders to pursue human depopulation as a strategy for saving the planet from so-called "global boiling.
Pope Francis spoke with Clinton on September 18, 2023, via remote link, where they discussed climate change and migration. Neither ever spoke about "depopulation" during the conversation, as the transcript from the event (archived here) shows.
Pope Francis stated the issues that he believes are important, but never said "depopulation" nor did he ever discuss population in any way:
You, Mr. President, have listed the many challenges of our time: climate change, humanitarian crises affecting migrants and refugees and childcare and many others.
The official transcript from the Vatican (archived here) also shows that Pope Francis never mentioned "depopulation." Video of the conversation published on C-SPAN also shows that neither Clinton nor Pope Francis mentioned depopulation or anything that even referenced population control.
A Google search (archived here) using keywords "bill clinton pope francis climate change" yielded numerous news reports about their conversation, including articles by Fox News, AP and Breitbart. However, none of the coverage contained any mention of depopulation.
The People's Voice
The People's Voice has a lengthy record of publishing false stories in the past. It describes itself as a resource "comprised of various web pages operated by Fact Checked Limited," but it has nothing to do with fact-checking.
As of this writing, its website contained a liability disclaimer, saying:
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