A series of fake videos of Pope Leo have been posted on YouTube which appear specifically to target elderly Catholics.
The videos, which feature real images of Pope Leo alongside AI-generated visuals, claim to share the latest teachings of the Pontiff and news from the Vatican. The videos contain fictitious stories covering themes that have become commonplace online, such as claims that the Pope has ordered Cardinal Burke to remain silent on the Third Secret of Fatima, that the Pope is calling for full communion with the Orthodox Churches, and that the Pope has cancelled the sacrament of Confession.
However, the videos, which appear designed to attract Catholics who may find it difficult to identify fake online content, are increasingly directed at elderly audiences. One video, entitled “5 people you must stay away from in old age for a peaceful life”, claims to contain a warning from the Pontiff about five types of people who “silently steal your peace, joy, and dignity in old age. Even if they’re family.” The video begins with accurate biographical information about the first American Pope, presumably to encourage viewers to believe that the content is authentic. It then tells the story of Dorothy, a 78-year-old woman who apparently met Pope Leo at her parish in Pennsylvania. Dorothy is described as feeling tired of her family putting her down, and the Pope is presented as advising her not to allow such family members into her life. The video goes on to show the Pope encouraging elderly people to distance themselves from patronising, controlling, fear-inducing, and argumentative relatives.
Another video, titled “Pope Leo XIV reveals God loving plan and hidden blessing of old age”, claims that Pope Leo visited a nursing home in Philadelphia, walking among elderly patients and encouraging them in their later years while emphasising the importance of this stage of life. The Pope is purported to have told patients: “You are not at the end of usefulness, you are at the end of completion,” again drawing on themes of elderly people being undervalued by their families.
The channel, which has been active for just seven months, has more than 20,000 subscribers and over 700,000 views. Its owners could expect to be earning around 400 dollars a month from the project if current performance continues. If growth remains strong, that figure could approach 2,000 dollars a month within six months. The videos, which are likely predominantly or entirely AI-generated, would therefore require relatively little effort to produce.
With the rise of AI, hundreds of videos have appeared purporting to present false teachings of senior Church figures. Last year another video, generated using AI and featuring a fabricated voice of Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire and bishop of Winona–Rochester, claimed that Pope Leo had made 15 bizarre reforms to Church life. These included the inclusion of lay voters in future conclaves, the replacement of Confession with communal penance services, the “decriminalisation of sin”, and the abolition of the title “Vicar of Christ”.
It is expected that Pope Leo will address the rise of AI in a major document, possibly an encyclical, in the coming months. Much like his namesake, Leo XIII, Leo XIV is Pope at a time of rapid technological change. Pope Leo XIII addressed the human consequences of industrialisation in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, focusing on the rights of workers. Any intervention by Pope Leo XIV would likely bring needed moral clarity to the development and use of artificial intelligence.
