Pope Francis celebrating Mass for Epiphany, January 6, 2020, in the Vatican.

(illustration) -

Alessandra Benedetti / AGF / SIPA

  • An article originally published on a Canadian conspiracy site claims that Pope Francis was arrested on the night of Saturday to Sunday at the Vatican.

  • “Trafficking in human beings”, child pornography… The arrest of the sovereign pontiff is allegedly motivated by more than 80 charges.

  • It is only a rumor, however.

    The Italian police, contrary to what was claimed, are not in a position to carry out an arrest against the Vatican head of state, who has incidentally been seen in the meantime.

"Trafficking in human beings", child pornography, "incest" ... According to an article widely shared on social networks, Pope Francis was arrested on Saturday evening, on more than 80 charges, including some particularly serious.

According to a false article shared on social networks, Pope Francis was arrested at the Vatican on Saturday evening.

- Tom Hollmann

This arrest, supposedly carried out by the Italian police, would also concern other senior officials of the State of the Vatican City and would have been carried out in the greatest discretion, on the occasion of a global blackout. , Saturday night.

FAKE OFF

The Canadian site Conservative Beaver, which defines itself as an alternative newspaper, was one of the first to relay this rumor.

According to the verification media Lead Stories, Conservative Beaver is not at his first attempt, since the latter has already been pinned for announcing false arrests of public figures, such as Barack Obama, supposedly arrested for espionage, or billionaire Georges Soros, for interference in the US presidential election.

The rumor was relayed by personalities close to the American conspiracy QAnon such as pro-Donald Trump lawyer L. Lin Wood, whose social media accounts have since been deleted in the wake of those of the American president.

In France, this article was translated and republished by Laurent Glauzy on his blog.

A prolific author of conspiratorial investigations, such as

Illuminati - From the Rock Industry to Walt Disney (

Babelio, 2012

)

or 

A Satanist Elite Rules the World

(Babelio, 2016), Laurent Glauzy was the subject of an investigation from the independent StreetPress news site in 2012.

No arrest, no power cut: "A totally absurd fake news"

Contacted by 

20 Minutes,

a source within Vatican Radio confirms it: it is “totally absurd fake news”.

Pope Francis has indeed been seen since his supposed arrest.

He intervened live Sunday, January 10, for the Angelus, his weekly prayer, at the end of which he mentioned the violence on the Capitol during the certification of the election of Joe Biden by the US Congress, Wednesday January 8 .

The Pope also appeared in an interview with Italian television channel Canale 5, where he said he would be getting the Covid-19 vaccine this week.

In addition, if the Vatican is located in the heart of Rome, it remains a sovereign state, governed by its own legislation.

It is therefore impossible that the Italian national prosecutor's office could have ordered an arrest in Vatican territory - and even less that of the head of state - contrary to the claims of the Conservative Beaver.

The arrest of the Supreme Pontiff, as Lead Stories points out, would also be a major and unprecedented diplomatic event.

However, neither the Vatican nor the international community reacted to this supposed imprisonment.

❌ Some people use the Place Saint-Pierre webcam to "prove" that there was a "blackout" on 9/01.


🔸 In fact we can see that the lights were on.

It's just that the cam doesn't seem to handle the light well.


🔗 Currently, it's the same: https://t.co/Kfjhsu8FEv pic.twitter.com/sh6muNVFAw

- FAKE Investigation (@FAKE_Investiga) January 10, 2021

According to the Conservative Beaver, the arrest of Pope Francis would have been facilitated by a general power cut on the night of Saturday to Sunday which would have allowed the police force to operate in all discretion.

There was, however, no power outage at the Vatican that night, as the Fake Investigation Twitter account pointed out.

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