Since the start of Pope Leo XIV's papacy in May 2025, he has been the subject of numerous rumors about things he has said, his political opinions and more.
As the first American pope in history, many people online have spread fake information about his views on U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, for example.
We have fact-checked a range of rumored quotes attributed to Leo, including false claims he once urged people to "be woke" and said U.S. Vice President JD Vance "flip flops faster than pages in the Bible." We also broke down a rumor about him discussing gender.
Some claims about Leo were less believable, like the false rumor he played the jazz trombone under the name "Bobby Prev" in the 1970s and 80s and fake photos that supposedly showed him "falling" down stairs.
Here are 12 claims we've investigated about Leo.
Since the start of Pope Leo XIV's papacy in May 2025, he has been the subject of numerous rumors about things he has said, his political opinions and more. As the first American pope in history, m...