Disinformation circulating online has been sowing confusion as the secretive conclave to elect the next pope kicks off in the Vatican on Wednesday.
The conclave follows the death of Pope Francis, an event which was also marred by a wave of disinformation. Considered one of the most progressive figures to have served as pope, the late pontiff was frequently targeted by false narratives, prompting him to denounce disinformation as “dangerous”, and a “tragedy” that “foments conflict.”
The closed-door conclave that begins on Wednesday will see 133 Cardinal electors isolate themselves within the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, with one round of voting expected to take place on Wednesday followed by four rounds each day before a cardinal receives the two-thirds majority needed to be elected pope.
The process will take as long as it needs to achieve the necessary majority, although the three most recent conclaves have all lasted less than three days.
Cardinals are sworn to secrecy about the voting process.
But the conclave has been tainted by a raft of false claims and conspiracy theories that have been circulating online in recent weeks.
Online users falsely claim pope has already been elected
Euroverify identified several unfounded claims that the pope had already been elected before the conclave had taken place.
As early as 21 April, a video emerged on YouTube – purporting to be a news report – claiming that the Philippines’ Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle had been selected.
The false report, first spotted by Filipino digital news media The Rappler, is headlined “Breaking: Cardinal Tagle Elected As Pope Luis I.”
Cardinal Tagle is being tipped as one of the leading candidates to replace Pope Francis once the conclave has concluded.
The 67-year-old Filipino has decades of cardinal experience and is considered to belong to the “moderate” wing of the Catholic Church. He’s also been dubbed by some as the “Asian Francis” due to his concern for the poor and the marginalised which came to distinguish Pope Francis.
Tagle has however faced criticism for what some consider his timid response to sexual abuse allegations against Catholic Church members and the the brutal crackdown in his native Phillippines at the hands of former president Rodrigo Duterte, now facing trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Similar false claims purporting Cardinal Robert Sarah – considered a favourite among the most conservative of the vote-holding cardinals – has been elected pope have been circulating, mainly on Facebook and TikTok.
A Facebook post published by a bot-like account reads: “Breaking news: The new pope has just been announced.”
It’s accompanied by an AI-generated photo showing Cardinal Sarah in the papal dress, against the backdrop of the Vatican. A reverse-image search shows there is no published evidence that Cardinal Sarah has ever worn the attire, and the photo is flagged as AI-manipulated by three AI detection tools consulted by Euroverify.
There is no truth to these claims. The papal seat has been vacant since Pope Francis’ death, a period known as Sede Vacante, and will remain so until the conclave has concluded.
Holy See refutes claims Cardinal Parolin’s health has declined
Another Cardinal considered a frontrunner to be the next pope, Italy’s Pietro Parolin, has been targeted with a raft of false news reports about a decline in his health days before the conclave.
Italian outlets have tried to point the finger at US Catholic news site Catholicvote.org, which published the misleading report on 1 May citing “Italian media sources”.
But the news also featured in Italian sites such as Virgilio and Il Giornale, and were in turn amplified by journalists on social media.
A spokesperson for the Holy See Press Office flatly denied those claims during a press briefing last Friday, and the Press Office later released a statement saying that “during the meeting with journalists, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, refuted the hypothesis of Cardinal Pietro Parolin falling ill, specifying that no such incident had occurred. He also denied the involvement of medical or nursing staff.”
Analysts have long denounced how false rumours can discredit candidates in the run-up to a new appointment, with Pope Francis facing similar false reports about his health in the run-up to the 2013 conclave.
Cardinal Parolin – formerly Pope Francis’ chief advisor – is being touted as one of the strongest papabiles, or candidates to be elected the next pope.
Disinformation about conclave takes aim at The Guardian
A doctored screenshot mimicking a Guardian op-ed titled “The next pope must be Muslim or there will be violence on the streets of Europe” has also been circulating online.
The op-ed is falsely attributed to journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Both The Guardian and Alibhai-Brown have confirmed that they never published such an article.
A look at The Guardian’s author page for Alibhai-Brown also shows that she hasn’t written for the publication since 2016.
A closer look at the screenshot shows that the logo says ‘The Grauniad’, a well-known colloquial name for the British newspaper, showing how it has been doctored.
The screenshot was first published by an X account named ‘The Grauniad Official’, which consistently attributes false headlines to The Guardian.
