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By Sam Howard
What’s happening: President Donald Trump’s rift with Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, has fueled the spread of three viral false claims related to the Catholic Church, garnering 1.5 million views on the social media platform X alone.
Context: The claims began spreading on April 12, after Trump said in a Truth Social post that Leo “should get his act together as Pope” and that he is “WEAK on Crime” — an apparent response to Leo’s comment amid the war in Iran, “God does not bless any conflict.”
Asked about Trump’s comments on April 13, Leo told reporters, “I have no fear of either the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.” At an event the next day, Vice President JD Vance said, “I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
A closer look: Both pro- and anti-Trump social media users have taken advantage of the division between the GOP president and the leader of the Catholic Church to spread false claims, apparently in an effort to exaggerate and exacerbate the seeming feud.
The ‘woke’ Pope? Since mid-April, conservative...
Welcome to Reality Check, NewsGuard’s nonpartisan newsletter that tracks the false claims and conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them. Please support us by becoming a premi...