On May 8, Catholics celebrated the election of a new Pope, Leo XIV. After the election, quotes appeared in different formats on social media where the Pope supposedly made remarks praising and encouraging "woke," which is often used as a term to describe left-leaning ideology. The quotes are fake. A search of the Pope's social media, Google and the Vatican press office website bore no evidence of the quotes, and a Threads user who appears to have posted the earliest version of one quote said they made it with artificial intelligence (AI).Ìý
THE CLAIM
Praise for words supposedly spoken by Pope Leo XIV spread on social media after his election as head of the Catholic Church in May.Ìý
Born Robert Francis Prevost, the new Pope made history as the first American-born pope (who also holds citizenship in Peru and Vatican City).Ìý
The Pope's election prompted speculation about how he might govern a global church facing ideological divides.
After the election, different versions of a supposed quote from the Pope praising spread online.Ìý
“To be called ‘woke’ in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult,†the Pope was quoted as saying in posts that received and likes on the X platform, formerly Twitter.Ìý
A longer version of the quote, where the Pope supposedly encouraged people to "be woke," appeared as text over an image of the Pope waving from a balcony and appeared on sites such as and .Ìý
Yet another version of the quote claims the Pope said, "To be woke is not a threat. It is a calling." That version received thousands of views on an and more than 75,000 likes on .Ìý
RATING: Fake quoteÂ
°µÍø½ûÇø used several search methods to verify the existence of the supposed quotes.
A Google search of phrases from the quotes, such as "to be woke is not a threat" and "be awake. be loving. be woke," as well as terms such as "pope Leo woke" show no evidence any version of the quote was shared by news websites, Catholic publications or the Vatican itself.
The Holy See, which is the official governing body of the Catholic Church, did not post the quote, for mentions of "woke" on its press website. °µÍø½ûÇø reached out to the Holy See press office for comment and will update this story if it receives a response.Ìý
A search of the found no mention of the word "woke."
Although the Pope's former X account under the username @drprevost was deleted after his election, a Google search of the username with "woke" obtained no evidence of the supposed quote.Ìý
One of the quotes, which appeared as white text over a picture of the Pope waving from a balcony, is AI-generated, according to its possible creator.Ìý
A Threads user who posted what is likely the earliest version of the quote on May 8, with the help of an "AI friend."
SOURCES
David Crary And Tiffany Stanley. From the left and right, US Catholics hope new pope fulfills their hopes. The Associated Press via °µÍø½ûÇø website. May 11, 2025 ()
Darren Major. So who's 'woke,' what does it mean and how is it being used in Canadian politics? CBC News . Sept. 17, 2022 ()
Quote of pope saying “To be called ‘woke’ in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult." Posted to X May 13, 2025 () and ()Ìý
Longer version of quote with image posted to May 9, 2025 () and May 11, 2025 ()
Quote of Pope saying "To be woke is not a threat. It is a calling." Posted to May 14, 2025 () and May 9, 2025 ()
Search results for "woke," Holy See . Accessed May 15, 2025 ()
Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex. X . Accessed May 15, 2025 ()
Post from Threads user about using AI to create quote. Threads . May 10, 2025 ()
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