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| - Fact Check: No, Pope Francis did not say he will replace the Bible with a new book "Biblia 2000"
A screenshot from a purported news article is being circulated on social media with the claim that Pope Francis has called the Bible outdated and decided to replace it with a new book, "Biblia 2000". India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is false.
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India Today Fact Check
This news report screenshot is from a 2018 article published by a satire site. There is no credible news report about Pope Francis making such a statement.
Amid the ongoing Christmas celebrations across the world, a screenshot from a purported news article is being circulated on social media with the claim that Pope Francis has called the Bible outdated and decided to replace it with a new book, “Biblia 2000”. The headline of the article in circulation reads, “Pope Francis cancels The Bible and proposes to create a new book”.
The article further reads as follows, "Pope Francis has surprised the world today by announcing that The Bible is totally outdated and needs a radical change, so The Bible is officially canceled and he announced a meeting between the highest personalities of the church where it will be decided the book that will replace it, its name and its content. Some names are already being considered and the one that has more strength is “Biblia 2000”.
One such post can be seen below.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is false. This screenshot is from a 2018 article published by a satire site. There is no credible news report about Pope Francis making such a statement.
AFWA probe
Pope Francis is known for his reform policies and controversial statements. In October this year, he also launched a two-year process that will focus on reforming the future direction of the Catholic church.
However, we couldn’t find any credible news report about the Pope announcing the replacement of the Bible. Any such announcement from the Pope would definitely have made headlines. The website of the Holy See Press Office that publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and the various departments of the Roman Curia also contains no such information.
We then searched for the source of the article screenshot in circulation. We saw “thereisnews.com” stamped on the screenshot. Taking a clue from this, we searched and found the same article published on the site “thereisnews.com” in 2018. This confirms that the article is not recent.
Also, the “about'' section of the website clearly mentions that “thereisnews.com” is a satirical site.
The description of the site reads as follows, “The site “There is news” [hereinafter referred to as TIN] is a humor site whose purpose is entertainment. The content of TIN is fiction and does not correspond to reality.”
What did Pope Francis say about the Bible?
We noticed that in a July 2019 tweet, Pope Francis made a statement contradicting the social media claims.
“The Bible is not just a beautiful book to keep on a shelf. It is the Word of life be sown, a gift that the Risen Jesus asks us to accept in order to have life in His name,” reads the tweet.
The Bible is not just a beautiful book to keep on a shelf. It is the Word of life be sown, a gift that the Risen Jesus asks us to accept in order to have life in His name. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 1, 2019
We also found a video of the Pope from January 2021, published on the verified YouTube channel of “ROME REPORTS”, an international news agency, specialising in covering news on the Pope and the Vatican.
According to this video, Pope Francis said the Bible is a source from which every Christian can benefit greatly and, for this reason, he recommended meditating on it often and not reading it like a novel.
According to a press release from the Holy See Press Office Bulletin dated December 23, 2021, the Pope, during an exchange of Christmas wishes, recommended the believers to read a book on minor or forgotten characters of the Bible, by Father Luigi Maria Epicoco: The Rejected Cornerstone.
A similar claim was earlier debunked in 2018 by an independent fact-checker.
It is hence clear that Pope Francis has not made any statement on cancelling or replacing the Bible. The post in circulation is from a 2018 satire article.
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You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
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