A practical guide to pope news and the rest too

I was so confused watching a video of Pope Leo XIV the other day. Something seemed really off. 

He was speaking in trendy slang terms that didn’t seem right for the dignity of his office, and making off-the-rails comments about sports that didn’t seem worth his attention.

Then it dawned on me. None of this was real. This weird, glitchy, nonsensical video about the pope … was actually AI.

It’s scary how easily artificial intelligence can make fake videos that look like the real thing. And horrifyingly, Pope Leo XIV is a frequent target:

AI-generated videos and audios of Pope Leo XIV are populating rapidly online, racking up views as platforms struggle to police them… An AFP investigation identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages that have been churning out AI-generated messages delivered in the pope’s voice or otherwise attributed to him.

And it’s not just AI causing problems. Some public voices — on both sides of the aisle — love to stir up controversy, taking super inflammatory positions and spreading ill will where none should be.

Fortunately, there are a few steps we can take to safeguard against online sources that spread division and misinformation.

Aleteia reached out to Katie Prejean McGrady, a radio host, author, speaker, and Catholic media expert. McGrady recently co-authored When the White Smoke Clears: A Guide to Pope Leo XIV’s Early Days with Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, Dr. Edward Sri, Fr. Josh Johnson, and others. 

Her chapter, “Beyond the Media Storm: Navigating Papal Coverage Wisely,” offers practical and spiritual advice for following Church news in a sane and healthy way. 

Here are three tips from McGrady for engaging well with media coverage of the Church and the pope.

“It’s so easy to be duped that you have to go to the source,” McGrady said. “Anything the pope says into a microphone is published on the Vatican website (www.vatican.va) within 24 hours, often even faster than that. If a comment supposedly from the pope seems suspicious, take the time to look it up and verify it before re-sharing it.”

She listed the following trustworthy official sources for papal coverage:

There are two different parts to digital discernment. One part: Listen to honest and level-headed voices. The second part: Approach news consumption with a healthy sense of balance.

If there’s somebody who’s posting things purely to make you mad — from both sides — then that’s probably a money-making pursuit on their part, and not a truth-sharing pursuit. If something you’re seeing about the Holy Father is making you upset or mad, or causing some sort of visceral reaction, that’s probably not good for you. We have to have a spirit of discernment and evaluate how much our senses are being flooded and choose not to over-consume all the content constantly presented to us. We have to be very reasonable in our approach to make sure we’re not just consuming things that cause an emotional response, but that is intellectually challenging and gives us a chance to engage with the truth.

Look for sources focused on truth-sharing, not rage-baiting. And if you feel yourself getting upset or overwhelmed, step back and take a break.

What should our ratio of praying to posting online be? For most of us, we should probably be praying a lot more … and posting a lot less!

A prayerful approach really can change everything. McGrady said:

As we maintain some semblance of balance, we are called to pray earnestly for other people to do the same because others are experiencing the same overwhelming feelings we perhaps are experiencing.

Especially on his birthday, let’s give Pope Leo the honor and respect of engaging carefully with the media about him, taking time to verify what we hear and give attention to balanced sources. And let’s offer prayers for our beloved Holy Father before anything else — it’s surely the best birthday gift we can ever give him.