Pope Leo XIV or ‘Pope Leo XIV’ — How to spot a fake online pope

The pontiff taking on AI is often AI spoofed.

A post appeared on the Vatican’s Instagram account Wednesday with the title “FAKE ALERT – PETER’S PENCE.”

The real Pope Leo XIV. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

A graphic accompanying the June 25 post explained that “fake Facebook profiles of ‘Pope Leo XIV’ are circulating, asking for donations.”

The post stressed there is no official Facebook page for Pope Leo and the only way to donate securely to the Peter’s Pence fund is via its website.

Since the May 8 election of the first U.S.-born pope, the internet has been awash with false reports, fake videos, and money-making scams exploiting the global spotlight on Leo XIV.

Much of this is not especially new. In 2012, an Italian hoaxer called Tommaso De Benedetti convinced some twitter.com users that Pope Benedict XVI had died, employing a fake profile attributed to the then-Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

One of the most widely read fake news stories of 2016 was headlined “Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Donald Trump for president.”

But even if the techniques of trickery remain essentially the same, they have arguably increased in sophistication.

In a video posted to Instagram May 28, “Pope Leo XIV” made a bold foray into U.S. politics, appearing to berate Vice President JD Vance’s “cold, calculated” response to former president Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis.

The voice sounded similar to that of Pope Leo, with its smooth timbre and Midwestern cadence. But it was fake. Most likely, it was created using an off-the-shelf AI tool that reworked a genuine sample of the pope’s voice to produce a synthetic version

Are there simple rules that Catholics can use to distinguish the real Pope Leo from his digital doppelgängers? Perhaps we can define some by looking at recent examples of both counterfeit and authentic Leo XIV phenomena.

❌ Pope Leo rebukes JD Vance

Why it went viral Staying with the JD Vance Instagram post, let’s consider why it hooked so many people. Shortly after Leo XIV’s election, media reported on the (genuine) Twitter account the pope had used since 2011, when he was superior general of the Augustinian order.

In February this year, the now-pope had shared an article entitled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others” — a reference to the debate launched by the Vice President’s comments about the ordo amoris.

The fake video therefore built on a pre-existing idea — that Pope Leo is critical of JD Vance — and added a novel twist.

What were its flaws? Although the video captured many of the pope’s vocal mannerisms, it wasn’t a perfect reproduction. The pace was slightly faster than that of the real Leo XIV. The audio addressed the vice president abruptly as “Vance,” when Pope Leo would surely have referred to him as “Mr. Vance.” In the accompanying visuals, the pope was reading from a prepared text, but his lips aren’t synced to the words. The video’s creator crudely sought to distract from this by imposing a speech bubble over much of the pope’s mouth.

How could you verify it? Apart from carefully examining the video’s sound and appearance, you could check whether there were reports about the pope’s alleged comments on reputable websites. If Leo XIV attacked JD Vance by name in a speech, reports would likely appear quickly on news wires such as apnews.com and reuters.com as “alerts,” followed by detailed stories. You would also expect the incident to be mentioned in some form on the Vatican’s news portal, vaticannews.va. A search on twitter.com should also turn up reports from verified outlets. If those checks came up blank, you could be 99% confident it was fake.

What rules can we deduce? 1) Be skeptical of any item linking Pope Leo to an individual politician; 2) Check if audio and visuals are in sync, paying attention to the lips; 3) Cross-check on news sites.

Similar examples: A 36-minute video appearing to show Pope Leo praising Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré; A TikTok video claiming that Leo XIV had urged Peru’s President Dina Boluarte to step down.

✅ Pope Leo and JD Vance discuss dating apps

What happened? On May 25, a short video appeared on YouTube entitled “VP Vance, Pope Leo XIV talk online dating problems.” The video claimed that in a meeting with the pope, Vance had “shared his concerns about current dating behavior.”

Why did it seem doubtful? The video was illustrated with the logo of the app Tinder above a still photo of Vance. The implication that the world’s most famous celibate and one of the planet’s most powerful men had spent time discussing dating apps seemed incongruous.

How could you verify it? The video was branded with the Fox News logo. If you clicked on it, it would take you to Fox News’ YouTube channel, which appears authentic due to its big follower numbers, links to Fox News sites, and extensive library of videos. A Google News search would bring up news reports from other outlets, appearing to confirm the video. The reports would lead you to a New York Times interview, recorded on the day Vance had an audience with Leo XIV, in which the Vice President revealed that he had discussed his concerns about dating apps with the pope.

What rules can we deduce? 1) Check the home tab of videos to see if they’re from an authentic source; 2) Identify the source via authentic news reports.

❌ Pope Leo XIV official Facebook pages

How they work Notwithstanding the Vatican’s declaration that Leo XIV doesn’t have an official Facebook page, there are hundreds of Facebook accounts purporting to belong to the pope. One of the more sophisticated is called “pope leo xiv official page,” with more than a thousand followers. Its profile photo features Pope Leo blessing a child and its posts consist entirely of Leo videos. In the “Intro” section, it accurately notes that the pope studied at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union. Unlike the accounts cited in the Vatican’s warning, it does not ask for money.

What are its flaws? The lower-case title is one giveaway. Another is the account address beneath, “@pope.leo.xiv.official.page.744886,” which hardly sounds like an authentic institutional address. Under Pope Leo’s place of work, it says “St. Peter’s Basilica” — a mistake no one at the Dicastery for Communication, which oversees the Vatican’s online presence, is likely to make.

What rules can we deduce? 1) Every Pope Leo XIV account on Facebook is false. The only places you will find Pope Leo on social media are the @pontifex accounts at twitter.com and instagram.com.

❌ Pope Leo falls down stairs

What happened? Earlier this month, a set of three photos circulated on social media, appearing to show Leo XIV waving on the steps outside of St. Peter’s Basilica, then falling, and lying prone with a pained expression. One of the most widely viewed posts included a link to an apparent news report, which suggested that “a piece of ceremonial technology … detached unexpectedly from Pope Leo’s vestment and fell near the altar,” causing the pontiff to lose his footing.

Not real.

What were its flaws? As the fact-checking website Snopes pointed out, the second and third photos of the falling pope were blurry. The figure looked more like Pope Francis than Pope Leo. In the second, the pope was tumbling backward, and in the third, pitching forward — a physiologically unlikely event. The accompanying news report was written in the strange register that Snopes described as “AI slop.”

How could you verify it? Snopes noted that neither a general Google search nor a Google News search for “Pope Leo falls down stairs” produced any reputable results. It ran the accompanying text through two AI text detectors — Quillbot and GPTZero — both of which identified the article as AI-generated.

What rules can we deduce? 1) Examine photos for tell-tale signs such as blurred faces, inconsistent clothing, anatomical impossibilities, and unclear backdrops; 2) Check online if texts are AI slop.

❌ Pope Leo says: ‘Be woke’

What happened? Posts appeared on social media with an image from Pope Leo XIV’s first balcony appearance, overlaid with a quotation attributed to the new pope. The text said that “to be called ‘woke’ in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult,” and ended with an exhortation: “Be awake. Be loving. Be woke.”

What were its flaws? The main one was that it gave no source for the quotation, but that’s common to the online genre of inspirational memes.

How could you verify it? One way to check the quote’s veracity would be to go to the Vatican websites vatican.va and vaticannews.va and search for a key phrase. If there are no results, your suspicions should be high. You could also check for any coverage by established secular and Catholic news outlets at Google News.

What rules can we deduce? Check purported Pope Leo quotations on official Vatican sites — and, as Abraham Lincoln once said, “don’t believe everything you read on the internet just because there’s a picture with a quote next to it.”