Pope Leo XIV has called on Catholic institutions worldwide to integrate an official Vatican news feed directly into their websites, as the Holy See confronts a surge in artificial intelligence-generated content falsely attributed to the pontiff.
According to Vatican News, the Pope wrote to bishops encouraging them to embed an official widget on parish, diocesan and Catholic association websites.
The move is designed to ensure that faithful and the wider public have direct access to verified information from the Vatican.
By incorporating the widget, Catholic websites will display a continuously updated stream of authorised content, including official videos of the American-born Pope, speeches, statements, documents, and reports published by Vatican media platforms. The feed will be available in 40 languages, broadening its global reach.
In his message to bishops, the Pope described the initiative as a “tool of evangelisation” and “a way for your parishes and communities to constantly obtain information from the primary source”.
The directive follows an investigation by AFP shortly after Leo’s election in May 2025 as leader of the Catholic Church. The investigation uncovered numerous YouTube and TikTok accounts distributing AI-generated videos and fabricated audio clips falsely presented as authentic papal messages.
On TikTok, one Spanish-language video garnered 9.6 million views while purporting to show the Pope delivering a sermon about the importance of adoring women. Another clip, although marked as AI-generated, still misled many viewers and accumulated approximately 32.9 million views.
The proliferation of such manipulated content has raised concerns within the Vatican about misinformation, digital manipulation and the potential distortion of papal teachings.
Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, explained that the introduction of the official feed could help address the growing problem.
He said the initiative “can serve to combat the phenomenon of fake news by allowing immediate access to the original source of news and texts”.
The Vatican’s move reflects broader concerns within religious and global institutions about the misuse of artificial intelligence tools to create convincing but false content capable of spreading rapidly across social media platforms.
What you should know
Pope Leo XIV has directed Catholic organisations to embed an official Vatican News widget on their websites to provide direct access to verified papal content. The feed will include speeches, announcements, official texts and authorised videos in 40 languages.
The move comes after an AFP investigation revealed dozens of AI-generated videos circulating online shortly after the Pope’s election in May 2025. Some of the fabricated clips attracted millions of views on platforms such as TikTok, despite being inaccurate or misleading.
Vatican officials say the new digital initiative is intended to combat misinformation and ensure that parishes and Catholic communities worldwide can access authentic news and teachings directly from the Holy See.
