Vatican Releases AI Generated Image of Pope, as “proof of life”
Report and Analysis by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
Rome, 7:15 PM, Sunday, March 16, 2025: Due to the immense interest in having some proof of life, regarding Pope Francis, following Cardinal Grech’s Letter to all the Bishops in the world, ordering a change in the constitution of the Church during the next 3 years, the Vatican has released a photo of Pope Francis, allegedly in the chapel next to his room, this morning, Sunday, March 16, 2025, as “proof of life”.
The only problem is, that it appears by all measures to be an AI Generated image, as one can see from examining the right hand of the pope, which is extremely deformed and only has 2 fingers!
The photo was released to the press as early as 6:48 PM Sunday night, as can be discerned from the website above.
The speculation and theories about what is going on at Gemelli Hospital will now certainly explode! Do they really think the general public is that stupid? — Also, no claim as to the exact date of this photo is made. The photo, published in the above article by AdnKronos, entitled, “Pope Francis, first photograph since in hospital”, is attributed to Sala Stampa Vaticana, not Vatican News, which in its official press release this morning has made no such claim:
UPDATE as of 1 A. M., March 17, 2025:
Later that same yesterday evening, in a post backdated to 7PM, Vatican News published a story affirming the photo is released by the Vatican Itself, but with the AI Image cut, so that the malformed fake hand cannot be seen. THIS IS NOW OBVIOUSLY A COVERUP!
In this Italian Press release it is claimed that the photograph is of Pope Francis in the chapel near his room, sitting in a wheel chair, and praying, after concelebrating Mass. The release also expressly denies that ayone has seen pope Francis other than his medical team in nearly a month, even though it is claimed elsewhere that Cardinal Parolin and his undersecretary have visited him weekly. — In addition to the obvious AI generated hand, which is grotesque, the photo does not seem realistic for a man wearing liturgical vestments, in a wheel chair, since the Alb in no way shows a wheel chair, and is crumpled on the shoulders in an unnatural manner. These discrepancies fit only one explanation, that the photo is AI generated or modified. — Click the image to read the original Italian, or HERE to read an English translation.
CONCLUSION
There is no honest reason to publish a fake photograph, unless one intends to deceive. So it is only reasonable, in the wake of this publication of an AI generated image of Pope Francis, to hold that Pope Francis is either so gravely incapacitated and bed ridden that Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, does not want to excessively worry the Faithful — and this is the most polite way to see it — or that Pope Francis is already dead or in a coma, on account of his double choking incident on March 3, 2025 — and this is the more realistic interpretation, seeing that Cardinal Parolin is known to be canvassing for votes to be the next pope, and is having some difficulty achieving this.
Reply by Br. Alexis Bugnolo, Editor
It is not frequently that an independent journalist like myself causes a huge institution to respond to an article published. But it happened tonight, just 35 minutes ago, when in the English Version only of the Vatican News site, the above article was published, replying directly to the questions I raised yesterday about the apparently faked AI image of Pope Francis with a withered hand, missing 2 fingers.
No other news organization in the world raised such doubts. The article published by FromRome. Info yesterday evening, was visited at least once by someone from the Vatican today and by several users in the City of Rome.
As you can see from the above, Vatican News is claiming that the hand was “swollen” due to lack of mobility. But that it is now back to normal, due to motor therapy.
Yet, that does not explain why within minutes of the publishing of the Article here at FromRome.Info, the full photo which had been released to the 770+ accredited journalists was republished by Vatican News yesterday with a cut-off of the lower part of the image showing the strange shaped hand.
FromRome.Info, for its accuracy in reporting is now being visited by an employee of Microsoft, evidently to check on whether we publish “fake news”, i. e. true news.
For the record, the problems with the photograph are not limited to the hand: they include the tan on Pope Francis, the lack of breathing apparatus, the bizarre angle, the unnatural folding in the alb, which strangely covers the entire wheel chair like no alb ever does, his lack of a zuchetto showing he is the pope, and the strange shape of his head, so different from that seen when he entered hospital.
Obviously, any sort of medical explanation can be the cause or invented to cover for the problems with the image. But FromRome.Info has scored a major journalistic coup in getting Vatican News to publish a rebuttal in English to counter our report, which doubted and questioned. That is the purpose of true journalism.
However, no matter how much a hand might be reduced in its swelling, it’s not going to recover two missing fingers or return to looking human from what formerly appears to be an aquatic appendage (see the previous report). — As for mobility therapy causing it to return to normal shape, I will leave the Registered Nurses and Doctors who read FromRome.Info to comment below as to the credibility of such a claim.