Video of Pope performing tablecloth trick is a fake

People pay their respect to the late Pope Francis, who will lie in state inside St. Peter's Basilica until Friday, at the Vatican, Thursday, April 24, 2025. In 2015, television program 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' created a humourus video of Pope Francis performing the tablecloth magic trick while visiting a Washington, D.C. church, but the video has since been reshared without context. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Gregorio Borgia

 GAC

After the death of Pope Francis earlier this week, social media users began to share tributes and memorable moments of the religious leader. Among the memorials shared was what appeared to be a clip from CNN of the pontiff performing a classic magic trick by pulling a tablecloth out from underneath a set of candles and a cross without disturbing them. The video is a digitally altered fake. The altered video dates back to 2015 when it aired on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and the original video shows no magic tricks were performed.

THE CLAIM

"Tributes continue to pour in from all over the world for Pope Francis, who died today," reads , formerly Twitter, from Monday. "As for me, this is how I'll remember him." 

The post included a clip from what appears to be CNN, with the chyron reading "Pope Francis arrives for U.S. bishops' meeting." In it, the Pope walks up to a table covered in a white cloth with two gold candlesticks and a gold cross in between. He lays down a bouquet of flowers, grabs the edge of the cloth and pulls it out from underneath the candlesticks, cross and flowers without toppling them. The video ends with Francis showing off the cloth to the Catholic officials behind him. 

The post had more than 800,000 views and 1,000 shares at the time of publication. 

RATING: Altered video

The video was digitally altered and removed from its original context. 

A keyword search in Google found an original version of the altered video on Sept. 30, 2015 on the daytime talk show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," shortly after Pope Francis visited the United States. The context, including accompanying music and DeGeneres saying, "It's his first miracle," make it clear the video was meant as a joke.

DeGeneres's introduction and the music was later removed from the clip and reuploaded on without context, prompting a fact check from in 2015. 

A search for the original, unaltered video found a from the YouTube channel Vatican News, which recorded Francis's visit to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 23, 2015. 

The video shows the Pope approaching the table, placing a bouquet of flowers under the cross, bowing and then turning away. 

of the event doesn't mention the pontiff pulling any magic tricks.

Before his death, °µÍø½ûÇø debunked several fake images and false claims about the Pope's health.

SOURCES

Video posted to X on (, )

The Pope's Astonishing Feat. TheEllenShow, on , Sept. 30, 2015 ()

Pope Francis tablecloth trick. Ian Page, on , Oct. 2, 2015 ()

Dan Evon. Did Pope Francis Perform the Tablecloth Trick? Snopes , Oct. 8, 2015 ()

Pope Francis in the USA- Meeting with the American Bishops. Vatican News, on , Sept. 23, 2015 ()

Alan Zarembo, Michael A. Memoli. A day of firsts: Pope Francis’ visit to Washington. Los Angeles Times , Sept. 23, 2015 ()

Marissa Birnie. Fake images, video and false claims about Pope's health spread online. °µÍø½ûÇø website, Feb. 27, 2015 ()

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