Pope Frances Isn't Arrested

A news article from the right-leaning Canadian news site, The Conservative Beaver, which has since been amended, was published claiming that Pope Francis was arrested on Saturday during a blackout in the Vatican City. The now archived article alleged that the Pope and other ‘high ranking officials” were being held at an unknown location on “charges of possession of child pornography, human trafficking, incest, possession of drug paraphernalia and felony fraud.” It also claims that the arrest was made by military officers, the Italian police, and its Sex Crime Unit, further alleging that “federal agents working for the state of Italy and Interpol” are carrying out interrogations at this unknown location, with the FBI to follow suit.

However, no reputable news outlets have reported on the arrest and neither has the Prosecution Office of Italy. It also appears that the statement and charges in the article were taken from a local report dated 7 January with almost the same circumstances as an arrest of an Alabaman man. The accused, Grady Paul Gaston, had the same charges against him, with some wording being directly phrased, merely replacing ‘Madison County’ with the ‘Vatican’ and ‘Italy’.

Moreover, the Pope has made numerous appearances since the claim was released. He delivered his Angelus address Sunday morning which was live-streamed. Pope Francis has also been tweeting regularly further indicating he has access to his social media accounts.  His schedule, depicting an appearance the next day, was uploaded online as per normal indicating it is business as usual at the Vatican.

In light of the lack of proof for the arrest, the fact that Pope Francis’ presence has remained unchanged, and that the Conservative Beaver has a history of false claims, the Misbar team has concluded that the claim and article tweeted are untrue.