AAP FactCheck - Between tributes and condolences at Pope Francis' funeral, false claims about "satanic" rites and an inter-faith pontiff are spreading online.
Pope Francis, who was head of the Catholic church for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday after suffering a stroke.
The late pontiff was often the subject of misinformation and disinformation, including a viral artificial intelligence-generated image of him wearing a puffer jacket1, and false claims about endorsements of political leaders2.
A Facebook post3 claims that a video of people wearing tall black pointed hoods walking in a procession while holding lights shows a ritual performed at his funeral on April 26, 2025.
"The Pope LOOKS LIKE he is literally having a SATANIC Ritual as a funeral with upside down crosses," the caption says.
However, a Google reverse image search reveals the clip was actually filmed during Easter Holy Week processions in Cartagena in southeast Spain, although it's unclear which year the clip is from.
The distinctive outfits match those worn by a women's section of the San Pedro Apostol Association,4 a local Catholic brotherhood dedicated to Saint Peter.
This includes the embroidered rooster on the cloaks (timestamp 25 seconds) seen in a photo on the association's website5.
The cloaks also feature an embroidered inverted cross, a symbol associated with the martyrdom of St Peter, according to Reuters6 and Greece Fact Check7.
Architectural details from inside the church in the video, such as the arched ceilings, indicate that the video was filmed in the Santa Maria de Gracia8 in Cartagena, not in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.
A YouTube video posted by Cartagena TV9 shows the 2025 Holy Week procession, with the women's contingent, known as the Tercio del Arrepentimiento de San Pedro, approaching the church in the same costumes (from 1:59:30).
It was falsely claimed in widely shared Facebook posts10 that a video showed attendees waving Palestinian flags at the funeral.
"Mourners waved Palestinian flags during the funeral of the late Pope Francis in the Vatican yesterday," one post 11says.
The clip shows part of St Peter's Square, with the papal apartments in the background.
However, a reverse image search revealed the video matched a YouTube video12 of Pope Francis' annual Christmas speech in December 2023.
People waved Palestinian flags while listening to the pontiff's speech13 calling for peace in Palestine and Israel and criticising the weapons trade, Reuters reported14 (photo 4).
A fake opinion article from a website resembling The Guardian website, purportedly by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, has also been widely shared on Facebook15 as if it were authentic.
"The next Pope must be Muslim or there will be violence on the streets of Europe," the headline says.
However, the image originated from a satirical X account 16that regularly posts fake news articles.
The parody name, "The Grauniad", is visible in the top right corner instead of The Guardian logo.
The opinion piece does not appear on Ms Alibhai-Brown's author page on The Guardian's website17, where she last published an article in 2016.
Another post18 features a fake image of the late Pope wearing the LGBTQI pride flag, which appeared in Facebook posts 19and X posts20 with the hashtags '#midjourney' and '#midjourneyv5', referring to an AI image generation tool.
AFP FactCheck21 has previously debunked the images as AI-generated.
Pope Francis often spoke about the dangers of misinformation, and reflected on being the subject of deepfakes in his 2024 World Social Communications Day message22.
He said there was no such thing as "harmless disinformation" in his 2018 World Communications Day message23.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network24. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads25, X, BlueSky26, TikTok27 and YouTube28.
