Snopes is a popular de-bunking website where people can go to see if the Internet rumors they’ve seen shared on social media and through email are true or, in fact, fictitious. So I decided to see what kind of rumors they’ve handled about the Catholic Church. Here are the six best ones:
1. Pope Forbids Catholics from Voting for Hillary Clinton
This one is just a piece of fiction, expounded from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s letter to Catholics in 2004, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, about being able to vote for candidates in favor of abortion/euthanasia if their stances on other equally weighted issues is favorable to Catholic teaching.
2. Jesus is Not Coming Back, Vatican Says
This originated from a satirical website, Waterford Whisper News (sorry, not our beloved Eye of the Tiber!) and was then quoted by another entertainment site that does not have a satire disclaimer, and the rumor spread. Jesus is still gonna come back….one of these days. 😉
3. Tim Kaine: ‘The Catholic Church Will Change Its Same-Sex Marriage Stance or It Will Be Banned from the U.S.‘
Kaine did not say that the Church would or should be banned if she doesn’t change her stance on same-sex “marriage” but he did say that he thinks she will change by saying some mishmash of Genesis, Pope Francis, and a slick line about the diversity God has made. Nice try, Timmy.
4. Mother Superior
This story was about a priest who supposedly died and met God, finding out that He is actually She. Although several semi-credible news sources reported this, the story originated on a site full of fantastical fiction. The story is false and God is still a guy.
5. Chip Monk
So, the story goes that in Las Vegas, where it is actually true that casino chips sometimes end up in the collection plates, that there is a Franciscan monk who is handed all of the chips and tasked with sorting them and then cashing them in, thus being dubbed “the chip monk”. Many of the area Catholic churches do have people tasked with this job but none of them are monks and none are employed by a monastery and the name “chip monk” is just a joke.
6. Immaculate Conception
This refers to Mary being born without sin, not Jesus being conceived by a virgin. Thanks for putting the moratorium on that one, Snopes.
