A post shared on X, formerly Twitter, claims to show Pope Francis with young girls.

Party loving pedo pope. pic.twitter.com/xcyktsslgS

— Qmum (@Nancy023922191) January 11, 2024

Verdict: False

The images are artificially generated.

Fact Check:

The Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar have rejected the Vatican’s Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed spontaneous non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples and other couples in “irregular situations,” according to The Associated Press.

Social media users have been sharing images of Pope Francis, claiming it shows him partying with young girls. One user wrote, “Party loving pedo pope.”

These images, however, are generated by artificial intelligence. Check Your Fact conducted a reverse image search and found that the images were shared on an Instagram post that credited an artist who uses artificial intelligence to create images. Check Your Fact also could not find any media outlets reporting on the alleged images.

Check Your Fact also ran the images through artificial intelligence image detectors such as Hive Moderation and Is It AI. These detectors, while not perfect, found that these images were likely generated by artificial intelligence. (Did Pope Francis Say That Jesus Was Born During A Census Taken By King David?)

The tweet has since had a Community Notes attached to it. BBC Verify reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh also debunked the claim in a Jan. 11 tweet.

These images of Pope Francis posted by a QAnon follower are obviously AI-generated and fake. pic.twitter.com/Sp1b6kwSjc

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) January 11, 2024

“These images of Pope Francis posted by a QAnon follower are obviously AI-generated and fake,” Sardarizadeh tweeted.