The News You May Have Missed: July-August 2025

Papal Deep Fakes

The Vatican News website published a warning in several languages after a 36-minute “deep fake” video was posted to YouTube in which Pope Leo XIV appears to praise Ibrahim Traoré, the military ruler of Burkina Faso. The video used footage from Leo’s first audience with journalists and a “morphing” technique that transforms the image so the movement of the Pope’s lips matches the AI-generated words (Catholic News Service, May 23). The video is only one example of Internet fakes attributed to the new Pope. A popular meme circulating on social media features a photo of Leo with the fake quote: “You cannot follow both Christ and the cruelty of kings. A leader who mocks the weak, exalts himself, and preys on the innocent is not sent by God. He is sent to test you. And many are failing.” The Pope never said this. All the speeches and messages Leo has given since becoming pope are available on the official Vatican website.

Candy Crush Cleric

A Pennsylvania Catholic priest has been sentenced to two years of probation for siphoning $40,000 in parish funds to play cellphone games such as Candy Crush and Mario Kart. Fr. Lawrence Kozak, 52, pleaded guilty to theft by receiving stolen property between 2019 and 2022 while at St. Thomas More Church in Pottstown (The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 28). Prosecutors said the priest used a credit card given to him for parish expenses to fund his video-game addiction, making “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions.” He also purchased gifts for his niece, including a backpack, an Amazon Fire tablet, and a chemistry set. Fr. Kozak said the stresses in his life, including the death of his father and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, “exacerbated nerve and phantom pain” he was experiencing in his partially amputated leg. “I allowed my playing of games to get away from me, and due to lack of attentiveness failed in my responsibility to be vigilant over the administrative part of my responsibilities.” He apologized and made full restitution to the parish. Kozak has been on administrative leave since 2022, when his improper spending came to light, pending a canonical investigation by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Church’s Chicken Dance

A performance inside a German Catholic cathedral featuring raw chickens wrapped in diapers — with the country’s president and the local archbishop in attendance — prompted ecclesial and municipal leaders to apologize for “hurt[ing] religious feelings” (Associated Press, May 30). Westphalia Side Story, part of a celebration marking the 1,250th anniversary of Westphalia, a region in northwestern Germany, featured a woman and two shirtless men singing Fleisch ist Fleisch (“Meat is Meat”) with scythes and dancing with the dead chickens on a stage in front of the altar of Paderborn Cathedral. “It was not meant to be a spoof at all,” said Rolf Baumgart, cofounder of bodytalk, the performance company that produced the show. “Westphalia is a rural-dominated region with a turbulent history. Our research was focused on that.” The spectacle prompted an online petition — signed by tens of thousands — asking Archbishop Udo Bentz to issue a personal apology, do penance, and reconsecrate the altar after it was “desecrated by this performance.”