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The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced May 27 that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa does not operate any personal or private social media accounts. Any accounts that appear to be his are fraudulent.
“Several unofficial pages have been found impersonating His Beatitude or using his name without authorization,” the announcement states. “Please note that the only official and reliable sources of information are the verified accounts of the Latin Patriarchate, clearly marked with the blue verification badge.”
The announcement encouraged the faithful to only follow the Latin Patriarchate’s verified accounts in order to avoid misinformation.
>> Jerusalem patriarch joins Pope Leo XIV in call for peace in Gaza <<
The announcement comes amid a growing number of “deepfake” videos of Pope Leo XIV people generated using artificial intelligence (AI). YouTube removed a channel called “Pope Leo XIV’s Sermons” for posting AI-generated videos of the Pope that contained entirely fabricated content loosely based on the Pope’s public comments, as CatholicVote previously reported.
Any official statements or addresses by the Holy Father are accessible via the Vatican’s official platforms, including www.vatican.va and www.vaticannews.va, Vatican News explained.
Another YouTube channel, “Pan African Dreams,” published a 36-minute deepfake video falsely portraying the Pope addressing Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré. As of this story’s time of publication, YouTube has not removed the video or account.
