What was claimed
An image shows an old photo of Pope Leo XIV with a group of young men, including two famous rappers, in Chicago.
Our verdict
This is an altered image. The photo of the group is from 2020 and shows a number of rappers. The image of the Pope has been added.
An image that appears to show Pope Leo XIV with rappers in Chicago has been edited.
The picture, which has been shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) features a black-and-white picture of the new pope appearing to stand with a group of young men, two of whom are rap artists.
A caption with the post says: “Old photo of Pope Leo XIV in Chicago resurfaces online.”
While it’s possible this was created as a joke, some users interacting with the posts seem to believe that it is a genuine photo of the new Pope.
And Grok, the AI assistant integrated with X, has also mistakenly said the image “appears likely real”, although it also cautioned that official sources had not confirmed its veracity.
Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, did grow up and enter the service of the Catholic church in Chicago, before being ordained a priest in Rome. He served as a priest in both Chicago and Peru.
But this is not a real image of him in Chicago. It has been altered to include a recent picture of Pope Leo, who was elected head of the Catholic church to become the first North American Pope on 8 May.
The background image is a cropped version of a picture of a group of men, including the American rapper Dayvon Bennett, better known as King Von. The picture was originally posted in 2020, before he was shot dead aged 26 later that year. Another rapper, Fivio Foreign, is also in the picture; a behind-the-scenes image from a music video featuring both men.
The picture of Pope Leo that has been added to the photo looks more recent as he appears to be wearing Papal vestments—the official attire of the Pope.
Full Fact hasn’t been able to find the original image, and it may be an edited version of a photograph taken when Pope Leo XIV greeted worshippers on the balcony above St Peter’s Square in his first speech after white smoke had emerged from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel, indicating that a new pope had been elected.
Before sharing pictures that you see online, it’s important to consider whether they could have been created digitally or altered in some way. Our guides to spotting misleading and AI-generated images can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because the original photo has been altered to include Pope Leo XIV.
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