IN SHORT: A newspaper front page circulating on social media in Kenya, mimicking Kenya’s Standard newspaper, was intended as satire. But it is being shared without this context and this makes it misinformation.
Animage of what appears to be the front page of Kenya’s Standard newspaper for 27 April 2025 has been circulating widely on social media.
The headlinereads: "Gachagua’s Race to Rome." It is accompanied by text suggesting that Kenya’s former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, pictured dressed in full papal garb, is seeking leadership of the Roman Catholic church following the death of Pope Francis.
Pope since 2013, Francis died on 21 April at the age of 88. His funeral on 26 April and a procession through Rome to his burial site drew crowds estimated at more than 400,000.
Cardinals will meet in a secret conclave in May to elect the next pope, the Vatican said. The Vaticanis the seat of the Roman Catholic church and the world's smallest nation-state, located entirely within the city of Rome, Italy.
The image shows Gachagua in religious attire in St Peter's Square in the Vatican. While some readers interpreted the front page as satire, others took it literally, in large part due to the controversial circumstances surrounding the former deputy president’s removal from office in October 2024.
Since his removal, Gachagua has been mobilising opposition to the president William Ruto and taken to building political alliances, with the aim of...
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