FACT-CHECK: Disinformation peddlers jump the gun on May 7 conclave

CLAIM: Cardinal Robert Sarah has been elected pope.

RATING: FALSE

Some Facebook users have been sharing a fake photo of the alleged new pope ahead of the conclave at the Vatican.

The same manipulated photo kept appearing in different Facebook groups, with users repeatedly using the caption, “BREAKING NEWS: The new pope has just been announced.”

The fake image showed Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, a retired prelate, in a white cassock and mitre, holding a papal ferula or staff.

However, no papal successor has been named yet, as the conclave that will elect a new supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church will not begin until May 7.

After Pope Francis died on April 21, the Holy See, the church’s central government, displayed the “Sede Vacante” emblem on its website, a symbol of the vacancy in the See of Rome. 

As of writing, the Holy See’s website still features the “Sede Vacante” logo.

Sarah, 79, former prefect of divine worship at the Vatican, is a favorite among conservatives and is often tipped as a “papabile” or an electable cardinal.

He is one of the expected 135 cardinal-electors, or members of the College of Cardinals below the age of 80.

The election of a new pope is a widely followed event globally, with crowds waiting for white smoke from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel, site of the conclave, at St. Peter’s Square. It would be impossible to miss on social media.

The conclave opens with a Mass at 10 a.m. on May 7. At 4:30 p.m., the cardinals go in procession into the Sistine Chapel and take their solemn oaths. Locked inside the chapel, they are expected to hold one round of voting on the first day. 

According to the rules, there will be four rounds of voting, called a scrutiny, each day, or two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Voting continues until a candidate gets the two-thirds majority.

In recent history, conclaves have lasted two to three days. 

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope in 2005 after four ballots while Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected on the fifth ballot in 2013. 

While popes are elected behind closed doors, the results are always announced publicly by the most senior member of the order of cardinal-deacons from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The “proto-deacon” of the College of Cardinals proclaims the message “Habemus Papam” (Latin for “We have a Pope”). This conclave, the news will be delivered by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti of France. 

Following the announcement, the new pope emerges from the loggia in papal garb, and gives a blessing to the world. He will not be photographed standing on the square of St. Peter’s like in the fake photo. Leigh San Diego and Felipe Salvosa II

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