A video authentically features an audio recording of Pope Leo XIV issuing a stark warning from God about the dangers of idolizing U.S. President Donald Trump.
A rumor that circulated online in September 2025 claimed a video featured an audio recording of Pope Leo XIV issuing a stark warning from God about the dangers of idolizing U.S. President Donald Trump. Snopes received reader emails asking, “Did Pope Leo XIV post [a] warning for Trump on YouTube?” Other users included a YouTube video link in their messages, including one person asking us to “fact check [the] speech by Pope Leo XIV.”
A YouTube search found the most popular video promoting the rumor, with an over 29-minute clip, posted (archived) on the Leo XIV Speaks channel on Sept. 6, 2025, receiving nearly 1 million views. The video’s title read, “Pope Leo XIV’s Shocking Warning to Donald Trump America Can’t Ignore.” A transcript of the video’s first several minutes appears later in this article. The same channel posted a second and very similar video on Sept. 23, receiving nearly 600,000 views, as of this writing. These videos only serve as a sampling of the examples available on YouTube, with their view counts continuing to climb, as of this writing.
Users also shared this claim on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), LinkedIn (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived), X (archived) and YouTube (archived).
While Leo did speak about Trump during an interview in September — a matter reported later in this article — searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo failed to locate any news outlets reporting about him issuing audio-recorded remarks telling parishioners about a warning he received from God about the dangers of idolizing the U.S. president. Had Leo made any such comments, outlets worldwide would have widely covered the matter.
Rather, the person or people who posted the original video — either on the Leo XIV Speaks YouTube channel or another channel also not affiliated with the Vatican — created the audio recording with an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool. A disclaimer appearing at the bottom of the Leo XIV Speaks clip’s description read, “This video contains AI-generated content and interpretations. It is created for educational and informational purposes only under Fair Use. Viewer discretion is advised.”
Among several signs a user generated the audio with AI — once again factoring in that no outlets reported the alleged remarks, and that the comments only appeared on social media — the audio featured pauses of complete silence between sentences, as opposed to the standard ambient room tone of a genuine recording. The YouTube users promoting the rumor aimed to earn YouTube advertising revenue from ads displayed before, during and after their videos.
An examination of the Leo XIV Speaks channel, as well as channels named Inside Leo XIV and Pope Leo Xiv Testament — found numerous other videos also promoting false rumors about the pope with the help of AI. For example, another popular video (archived) hosted on the Leo XIV Speaks channel, posted in September 2025, falsely claimed Leo warned, “The Antichrist is already here,” as well as another clip (archived) incorrectly claiming Leo said of the apocalypse, “It’s here.”
The Leo XIV Speaks channel did not feature an email address or any other external contact methods.
Leo’s remarks about Trump
Aside from the fake remarks appearing in the YouTube videos and other posts, Crux — a website providing independent coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church — published a multi-part interview with Leo in mid-September. Elise Ann Allen, a senior correspondent for the publication, conducted the interview in conjunction with her new biography of Leo. Trump’s name appeared in the text transcript of the 2 1/2-hour interview.
In one part of the interview, Leo answered a question about the Middle East, and specifically the situation involving human suffering in Gaza. Leo answered, in part, “Even with some very clear statements being made by the United States government, recently by President Trump, there has not been a clear response in terms of finding effective ways to alleviate the suffering of the people, the innocent people in Gaza, and that is obviously of great concern.”
Allen also asked Leo if he believed he had a better shot at engaging in a dialogue with Trump, due to the fact both of them were born in the U.S. In response, Leo answered, “Not necessarily,” saying “it would be impossible” for a pope to engage in telling individual countries how to manage their laws and politics. He then referenced a letter from Francis — the previous pope — about immigration, and spoke of promoting “human dignity” and “human support” over prioritizing economics:
Something that Francis did towards the end of his pontificate, which I think was very significant, was the letter he wrote about the issue of the treatment of immigrants. I was very happy to see how the American bishops picked that up, and some of them were courageous enough to go with that. I think that approach, in general, is a better approach, that I would engage with the bishops primarily.
President Trump made a statement last week about [how] he didn’t have it on his agenda to want to meet me, and then he said, ‘but his brother’s a nice guy’, and that’s fine. One of my brothers has met him and has been very outspoken about his political viewpoints. But if or when there were specific issues that, if it were possible to engage with him, I would have no problem doing so. I think there are others who are doing that role fine, and he makes his choices, who he listens to and who he doesn’t listen to. But to continue to raise some of the issues, especially about questions of human dignity, of promoting peace in the world, which he at times has made clear he wants to do, in those efforts I would want to support him.
The United States is a power player on the world level, we have to recognize that, and sometimes decisions are made more based on economics than on human dignity and human support, but [we have to] continue to challenge and to raise some questions and to see the best way to do that.
Partial transcript of fabricated Leo speech about Trump
The Leo XIV Speaks YouTube channel’s video promoting the AI-generated audio recording — the one with Leo allegedly telling parishioners about receiving a warning from God regarding the dangers of idolizing Trump — began as follows:
My dear sons and daughters, I speak to you with lips that tremble and a heart pressed down by the weight of what has been revealed. What I’m about to share does not come from opinion, nor is it shaped by the storms of politics. It is a burden laid upon my spirit by the hand of the Almighty. In prayer, in silence, in long nights before the cross, I received a message, a warning that cuts through the clamor of this age. And this warning, my children, concerns a man whose name is on countless tongues, whose presence divides households and nations. A man whose choices echo beyond his homeland. Yes, I speak of Donald Trump.
Do not mistake my words for noise stirred by anger or flattery. Hear me with open hearts because what is spoken now is a divine message America must not push aside. You who are listening, do not let your mind wander. Do not let your attention drift. This warning is not something to skim and forget. Stay with me. If you hear only a sliver, you may miss the weight of heaven’s call. What is at stake is not one man’s future, but the soul of a nation, and more still the testing of faith for multitudes across the earth.
In my vision, I saw Trump at a crossroads. One path glowed faintly with righteousness. The other was wrapped in the shadows of pride and ruin. He trembled under a burden too heavy for any one person. Yet the Lord allowed him to stand there, not as a king in his own right, but as a vessel through whom the heart of a people would be made known. I heard voices rising around him, some blessing, some cursing, some calling for his fall, others lifting him almost to a savior’s place. Then the Lord spoke, “This man is not your Messiah. He is a mirror. Through him, you shall see what lies hidden in your own hearts.
My children, do you hear it? Trump is not the warning. He is the instrument that carries it. The true message is not about him, but about you, about America, about every soul that must now choose between the eternal kingdom and the crumbling kingdoms of men. The spirit showed me America like a tree planted by living waters, once flourishing, fruitful, a shelter for many. Now I saw its branches brittle, its leaves fading, its roots poisoned by pride and rebellion. The nation cried for revival, yet her cries were swallowed by idols, wealth, lust, power.
Then in the midst of this failing tree, Trump appeared like a storm. Not rain to restore, but thunder to shake and lightning to expose what hidden darkness. Children, do you see? He was permitted to rise so what lay dormant would come forth. So corruption, division, and apathy would no longer sleep unseen. A storm does not heal, but it can awaken. That is why America must listen. Not because Trump is holy, but because his presence is prophetic, a signal that the time of sleep has ended.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on other claims about Leo, including fake photos showing him falling down stairs, a rumor claiming he sent priests to courts to stand in solidarity with immigrants and a fake quote claiming he said, “You cannot follow both Christ and the cruelty of kings.”