Does a real photo show Pope Leo XIV rocking Nikes with his clerical vestments? Yes, that's true: This is a real photo that appears in a trailer for a documentary about the time Pope Leo XIV spent in Rome before he was elected to be pope. The context for the photo offered in the trailer and the lack of traditional papal attire, notably the skullcap, suggests the photo was taken before he became pope on May 8, 2025.
The photo appeared in a post on X (archived here) published by @ModernNotoriety on May 7, 2026. It is captioned:
Pope Leo XIV rocking Nikes with his clerical vestments
This is the image included with the post:
(Image source: @ModernNotoriety post on X.)
A May 6, 2026 article (archived here) in Vatican News is titled, "'Leone a Roma': Vatican media documentary on Pope's years in Rome" The trailer (archived here) was published on YouTube on May 6, 2026. It is captioned:
A journey through the streets of Rome and the places dear to the Augustinians, gathering stories, images and testimonies from those who knew the future Pope Leo XIV from his arrival from the United States in the 1980s, through his two terms as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine and his appointment as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. It will be broadcast shortly on Vatican media channels and made available to media organizations upon request, to mark the first anniversary of his election.
The photo in question appears at the at the 50-second mark in the trailer (embedded below to begin at that time). In the moments before the image appears, the dialogue, automatically translated by YouTube, says:
He carried out his service as Prior General from 2001 until 2013.
The trailer does not explicitly confirm the date, but the portion of transcript quoted above suggests the photo shows Robert Francis Prevost between 2001 and 2013. The pope wears a white skull cap called a zucchetto (archived here) at almost all times except during the liturgy of the Eucharist. The lack of this headwear in the photo strongly suggests the photo shows Pope Leo XIV (then Robert Francis Prevost) in the time before May 8, 2025 when he was elected pope.
