Pope spreads digital word to tackle AI-generated fakes

Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholic organisations to include a direct feed of official Vatican news on their websites as the Holy See battles a flood of AI-generated content.

Vatican News, the Holy See's official news outlet, reported Wednesday that the pontiff had written to bishops inviting them to use the feed on parish, diocese and Catholic association websites.

By embedding a widget, the websites will be able to carry a constantly updating feed of authorised videos of the US pope, as well as speeches, announcements, texts and stories from official Vatican outlets -- in 40 different languages.


In his letter, the pope told bishops it was a "tool of evangelisation" and "a way for your parishes and communities to constantly obtain information from the primary source".

An AFP investigation after Leo's May 2025 election as head of the Catholic Church identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages that were churning out AI-generated videos and recordings attributed to the pope.

On TikTok, one Spanish-language video received 9.6 million views while claiming to show Leo preaching about the value of adoring women. Another, which carried an AI label but still fooled viewers, was watched some 32.9 million times.

Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, said the new initiative "can serve to combat the phenomenon of fake news by allowing immediate access to the original source of news and texts".