An image shared on Facebook claims Pope Francis urged Americans not to vote for President Donald Trump because “God will abandon America if Trump is re-elected.”

Verdict: False

There is no evidence that Pope Francis ever said the statement. The claim originated on a parody news website.

Fact Check:

The post features a screen grab of a tweet that links to an article published by the website News.enewsun.com. That article, which puts up the headline “Pope Francis: ‘God will abandon America if Trump is re-elected,'” claims the pope urged Americans not to vote for Trump in the 2020 presidential election during Mass.

“I am fearful that the least among them will fall victim again to the evil and morally decrepit creature Trump,” the article quotes the pope as saying. “I believe that should he be re-elected, God will abandon all of his blessings upon American, and may see fit to raze it down, as Sodom, as Gomorrah.”

Had the pope made such a statement, it would have been picked up by major media outlets, yet none have reported on it. (RELATED: Image Claims Pope Francis Made A Satanic Hand Gesture)

The article lifts nearly word-for-word from a story published on Bustatroll.org, a parody news website that describes itself as part of a network that publishes “parody, satire, and tomfoolery.” Bustatroll.org also states that “everything on this website is fiction.”

The claim made by both the Facebook post and the News.enewsun.com article originated on Bustatroll.org and should not be taken as fact.