Pope Francis was the head of the Catholic Church for 12 years. During this time, he advocated for impoverished people, the marginalized and refugees. He aimed to reform the Catholic Church and was often outspoken about political issues. This made him popular among many believers worldwide, but he also drew criticism from traditionally conservative church circles.

Living in an age of social media and AI-generated fakes, Pope Francis became the target of fake news far more frequently than his predecessors ever had. Some of this disinformation even stemmed from within his own ranks.

The DW fact-checking team has compiled some of the larger incidents of disinformation concerning the late Pope Francis.

Calling for euthanasia to mitigate climate crisis?

Claim: On the social media platform X, one user claimed that Pope Francis had backed a supposed campaign by the World Economic Forum to euthanize people with autism, alcoholism, and "other minor illnesses and disabilities" to curb "so-called 'climate change.'"

DW-Fact check: False.

Pope Francis and the Catholic Church repeatedly spoke out against euthanasia, highlighting that people with disabilities had equal rights to life and civic participation. A 2020 letter that the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published and the pope approved reads that "euthanasia is a crime against human life."

The poster on X had been referring to an article from The People's Voice, a website known for spreading disinformation. The article referenced contains no evidence or actual quotes from the pope.

This wasn't the first time that The People's Voice spread fake news about Pope Francis. The website also repeated claims made by Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican envoy to the US who was excommunicated for schism in 2024.

"Vigano's theories are particularly dangerous because he presents himself as an insider, and he has a loyal following in right-wing circles in the United States," the Italian journalist and fact-checker Simone Fontana told DW. "And, yes, that all began with the pope's liberal views."

Congratulating Vladimir Putin?

Claim: On X, one user wrote that Pope Francis had congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection in March 2024, and many other users shared this claim. A Russian news agency was cited as their source.

DW fact check: False.

Neither Pope Francis nor the Holy See congratulated Putin on what was portrayed as a victory in Russia's 2024 presidential election. Many international observers viewed the election, which was held in Russia and illegally annexed Ukrainian territories, as neither free nor fair. 

Though North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were quick to send their congratulations after Putin's election victory was announced, other world leaders showed a more muted response, and others decided not to congratulate him at all.

That's what made the report by the state-operated Russian news website RIA Novosti all the more surprising. The report, published on March 17, 2024, claimed that Pope Francis had congratulated Putin on his reelection, stating that Leonid Sevastyanov, chairman of the World Union of Old Believers, had spoken directly with the pope. In response to inquiries from several media outlets, the Holy See's press team refuted the report. 

Fontana sees in this false claim an attempt by Russian propagandists to use the pope's popularity to reach a wider audience for their messages. Putin often portrays himself as a devout Christian who values relations with the Catholic Church. He has visited the Vatican for a papal audience on multiple occasions.

The first pope of the AI era

Claim: This image, apparently depicting Pope Francis wearing a fashionable puffy white coat, sporting a crucifix around his neck and a coffee cup in his hand, went viral in 2023, reaching millions of viewers.

DW fact check: Fake.

The image in question is not an actual photo but was generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

Several details reveal this. For one, one of the lenses in his glasses is blurred unrealistically, and the crucifix around his neck appears out of focus and does not clearly depict an image of Jesus.

Another piece of evidence is a post by the AI image tool Midjourney found on Facebook: On March 23, 2025, its official Facebook account published the prompt that was used to generate the viral image of the hip pope.

In recent years, AI has become so widely accessible that nearly anyone can utilize it to create imges and videos. This is how Pope Francis became the first pope to appear in a series of fake images circulating on the web.

"The pope is not just a person, he's also a symbol," said Felix Neumann, an editor for the religious news portal katholisch.de and co-deputy of the German society for Catholic publicists, GKP. Therefore, depicting him wearing a fashionable puffy jacket portrays him as a wealthy man, which, as the editor explained, was supposed to create "an absurd contrast."

"Imagine seeing, of all people, the humble Pope Francis, who chose the humble Francis of Assisi as his patron saint, wearing an incredibly stylish designer coat," Neumann said. "It's this contradiction that makes it attractive to play around with images of the pope."

Accused of collaborating with Argentina's junta

Claim: Another account on X claimed that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as he was known before he became Pope Francis, had cooperated with the military junta that ruled over Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s and may even have been involved in the torture of two Jesuits.

DW fact check: Unproven.  

Even before he became Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been accused of collaborating with the Argentine dictatorship. In 1976, when Bergoglio was leading a local Jesuit community, it was said that he played a role in the kidnapping and torture of two priests, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, at the hands of the military junta.

During Argentina's 1976-83 "Dirty War," the military junta clamped down on political dissidents, especially people accused of ties to leftist groups. Human rights groups estimate that about 30,000 were killed or forcibly disappeared, including priests, nuns and church staff.

Some journalistic investigations have claimed that Bergoglio had kept ties to the military and knew the priests would soon be arrested, but failed to take action to protect them.

Nello Scavo, an Italian journalist and co-author of the book "Fake Pope: The False News About Pope Francis," told DW that this is inaccurate. Scavo said Bergoglio had approached the military officer Emilio Massera and junta leader Rafael Videla to request that Yorio and Jalics be released personally.

Bergoglio secretly helped a number of people flee the dictatorship, Scavo said.

During his lifetime, the pope and the Holy See rejected all accusations of Bergoglio's alleged role in Argentina's dictatorship, but were never able to clarify accounts entirely.

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis has visited many countries, but he has consistently avoided returning to Argentina. It's said he was concerned about the political implications a visit would have.

This article was translated from German.