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Man City makes false claim about only player to wear World Champion badge for club, country

Nurudeen Akewushola
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Man City makes false claim about only player to wear World Champion badge for club, country

MANCHESTER City, an English football team, has claimed that her forward, Julian Alvarez, is the only player to wear the World Champion badge at both club and international level.

The club made the claim via her X handle on December 28, in celebration of her triumph against Brazilian club, Fluminense, at the Fifa Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

READ : Doctored viral image shows Lionel Messi ‘shopping for guns’ in America

Alvarez scored twice as the team won the Fifa Club World Cup for the first time by beating Brazilians Fluminense 4-0 on Friday, December 22, the BBC reported.

Julian Alvarez.
Julian Alvarez.

This makes it their fifth trophy in 2023 after winning Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League and European Super Cup.

The win granted the Argentine Alvarez who had earlier won World Cup with his country an honour to wear the World Champion Badge for both his club and country. 

The post (archived here) reads, “ @julianalvarezzz, the only player to wear the World Champion badge at both club and international level! 👏🇦🇷”

It has garnered over 700,000 views, more than 3,400 reposts and more than 33,000 likes as of Sunday, December 31, 2023. 

 

CLAIM

Julian Alvarez is the only player to wear the World Champion Badge for both club and country.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

Screenshot of the Man City post on X. INSERT: False verdict.
Screenshot of the Man City post on X. INSERT: False verdict.

The FIFA World Champions Badge is awarded to each winning team at a major FIFA event. The design of the badge consists of the respective tournament trophy and the tournament edition. The first national team to ever receive the badge was the Italy men’s national team for their victory at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The badge is a kit emblem in the shape of a gold and white shield, awarded by FIFA to the reigning world champions of FIFA competitions, both at national team level (e.g. World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Futsal World Cup and FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup) and at club team level such as Fifa Club World Cup. It’s licensed by FIFA and it badge bears the inscription “FIFA World Champions.”

The first club to receive the badge was the Italian giants AC Milan, after winning the Fifa Club World Cup in 2007.

Checks show that before Alvarez, Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has achieved this feat after helping France to win their second World Cup  and Real Madrid to their 13th Champions League title and Fifa Club World Cup in 2018.

Raphael Varane with the World Champion badge for France national team/ Source: Getty Images.

This made Varane a recipient of the prestigious badge on his club and national team shirts before Julian Alvarez. 

Raphael Varane with the World Champion badge for Real Madrid. Credit: @RealMadrid (Twitter).

THE VERDICT

The claim that Manchester City and Argentina forward, Julian Alvarez, is the only player to wear World Champion badges for both club and country is FALSE; findings show that Manchester United defender, Raphael Varane achieved the feat before Alvarez.

Photos do not show gunmen attack in Plateau state

Nurudeen Akewushola
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Photos do not show gunmen attack in Plateau state

A photo collage showing the interior of a church and a floor stained with blood has circulated online with a claim that it shows the recent attack by gunmen in Plateau state.

The collage is circulating following the gunmen attack which led to the killing of over a hundred of residents in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi local government areas of Plateau state on Christmas eve.

READ : How foreign-linked accounts amplify disinformation about gunmen attack in Nigeria’s Plateau state

A verified X user, @roneng1ish, posted the photo collage with a caption that read: 

“Nigeria – New photos from within a church where at Christmas Christians were massacred in the name of Allah. Around 150 are confirmed dead so far, properties & farms were looted and burned. This is on par with what Hamas did, but the MSM & dancing Western Hamas fans ignore.” 

The post has generated over 1.9 million views, more than 17,000 reposts, 1,200 comments and more than 32,000 likes as of December 31, 2023. 

Another verified X user, @hananyanaftali, also posted the same photo collage with a caption thus: 

“Nigeria Christmas Massacre Targeting Christians: Over 150 fatalities. Approximately 200 families forced to relocate. Around 300 people injured. Where is the international community?(sic)” 

The post has also gone viral with over 1.5 million views, more than 2,700 comments, over 26,000 likes and 15,000 reposts as of December 31, 2023. 

 

CLAIM 

Photos show church premises where at Christians were murdered in Plateau state at Christmas.

 

THE FINDINGS

Checks show that the claim is  MISLEADING.

Screenshot of the viral images on X. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

When this researcher subjected the images in the collage to Google Reverse Image search, the results show that the photos have been online since 2022.

The photos show the inside view of St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State which was attacked by bandits in June 2022. An earlier version of the pictures were found in these reports by Al Jazeera and AP News.

The photos were credited to the Associated Press photographer, Rahaman A Yusuf and were shot on June 5, 2022, inside the church after the gunmen attacked worshippers who gathered for weekly service.

In other words, the images are unconnected to the recent killings in Plateau state. 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the photos show church premises where at Christians were murdered in Plateau state at Christmas is MISLEADING; findings show that the images have been online since 2022 and are unconnected to the recent Plateau killings.

No, 72 per cent of Nigerians are not unemployed

Amadin Ogbewe
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No, 72 per cent of Nigerians are not unemployed

ON December 18, 2023, during the daily live political show called ‘The Polity’ on KAFTAN TV, an analyst and legal practitioner Prince Ojoka stated that 72 per cent of Nigerians are unemployed.

Ojoka who had been speaking on the state of the nation, had attempted to paint a picture of the current situation of the country as he also made comments about the level of poverty.

READ : Ndume makes false claim about Nigeria’s military strength

His comments begin at the 50:28 time mark of the interview published on the YouTube channel of KAFTAN TV here.

 

CLAIM

72 per cent of Nigerians are unemployed.

 

THE FINDINGS

Checks show that the claim is FALSE.

According to the Nigeria Labour Force Statistics Report for Q2 2023 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in December, 2023, the employment to population ratio is 77.1% and the unemployment rate is 4.2%.

Recall that the NBS had adopted a new methodology in the calculation of unemployment in Nigeria for the Q1 2023 which saw the unemployment rate of the Q4 of 2020 at 33.3% dropped to 4.1% (Q1 2023).

Under the new NBS methodology, not working in the past seven days, but actively searching for work in the past four weeks, while ready to start work means one is considered unemployed. Some experts have raised serious concerns regarding the new methodology adopted by the NBS while others, including the former Statistician-General of Federation/CEO of NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, have faulted it.

Essentially, this means the criteria for unemployment changed as some people who were previously considered to be unemployed are now categorised as employed. An explainer video by KAFTAN TV and Dataphyte published in August 2023 breaks down the methodology here.

Going by the NBS figures over the years, regardless of methodology, unemployment has never risen to 72% and unemployment stands at 4.2% for the most recent quarter reviewed in 2023.

 

VERDICT

The claim that 72 percent of Nigerians are unemployed is FALSE; the most recent data released by the NBS at the end of the second quarter of Year 2023 show that the unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent.

 

* This fact-check was written by Amadin Ogbewe, a fellow of the ICIR’s Countering Misinformation and Promoting Media Literacy project, supported by the German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

False claim circulates that nobody was arrested, prosecuted for terrorist attacks in Northern Nigeria

Nurudeen Akewushola
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False claim circulates that nobody was arrested, prosecuted for terrorist attacks in Northern Nigeria

AN X user, Shehu Ghazali Sadiq with the username: @shehusky, has claimed that the Nigerian government has never arrested and prosecuted anyone for all the terrorist attacks that happened in Northern Nigeria.

The post read: “Did you know that no terrorist is ever arrested and tried for all terror attacks in Northern Nigeria? Do you know why? It’s because the Northern political elites are the jihadists financing the terror attacks.”

The post, archived here, has generated over 200,000 views, more than 3,000 retweets and over 6,000 likes as of December 28, 2023. 

 

CLAIM 

No terrorist was ever arrested and prosecuted for terror attacks in Northern Nigeria.

Screenshot of the post on X. INSERT: False verdict.
Screenshot of the post on X. INSERT: False verdict.

 

THE FINDINGS 

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE. 

Checks revealed that several people suspected to be terrorists have been arrested and prosecuted by the Nigerian government over the years. 

One of the most notable high-profile cases in history is the case of Abubakar Dikko known as Kabiru Sokoto, the mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing in Niger State in 2011. 

Sokoto, who was a senior Boko Haram operative, was first arrested on January 1, 2012 by the police, but escaped from custody two days later when he was being taken to his residence at Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory for a search.

He was re-arrested in Mutum-Biu in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State in February 2012 and subsequently charged for terrorism.

The Federal High Court, Abuja found him guilty of terrorism and handed him a life sentence on December 20, 2013.

Kabiru Sokoto when he was been prosecuted in court by the Nigerian government. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Another high-profile case is the case of Khalid Al-Barnawi, a former leader of the Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru, who was charged with the abduction and murder of 10 foreign nationals.

Al-Barnawi, whose real name is Usman Umar Abubakar, was arrested on April 1, 2016 by a combined team of Nigerian security agencies in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.

Apart from all these instances, there were also several cases of prosecution announced by the Nigerian government.

Earlier this year, the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led government said it prosecuted 1,500 terrorism cases and secured 397 convictions from May 2015 till the end of the last administration.

Also in 2023, Lateef Fagbemi, Nigeria’s current  Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice announced the resumption of the trial of several suspected Boko Haram members in government’s custody.

Fagbemi said the federal government secured a total of 366 convictions, while 896 others were discharged for lack of evidence.

 

THE VERDICT 

The claim that no terrorist was ever arrested and prosecuted for terror attacks in Northern Nigeria is FALSE; publicly available evidence show that there have been arrests and prosecutions of several suspected terrorists in Nigeria over the years.

Old images resurface online amidst Plateau killings

Fatimah Quadri
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Old images resurface online amidst Plateau killings

AN X user @endwokeness published a post accompanied with three images and attributed them to the mass killings that took place in Plateau state on Christmas eve.

Quoting the Associated Press (AP) as his source, the user stated that the death toll had reached 140 and was increasing.

The post read:

“CHRISTMAS MASSACRE IN NIGERIA: The death toll is 140 and climbing after a series of coordinated attacks by Jihadist forces in Plateau. They attacked 20 Christian communities in Central Nigeria, raiding and burning homes while civilians were asleep. 300 are injured and 221 homes are destroyed. The authorities did not respond for over 12 hours, a source has told AP. In the past 2 decades, 62,000 Christians in Nigeria have been killed by Jihadists and another 5 million have been displaced.”

As of December 28, 2023 the post has garnered over three million views, more than 14,000 reposts, over 26,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments since it was published on Tuesday, December 26.

READ : Photos do not show gunmen attack in Plateau state

Media houses had reported on Monday, December 25, 2023 that gunmen had reportedly killed over 70 people in several communities in the Barkin-Ladi and Bokkos local government areas (LGAs) of Plateau state. Other reports like TheCable’s and AP’s quoted higher figures.

According to multiple media reports, the assailants attacked residents en masse, looted farm produce, and set houses ablaze.

 

CLAIM

Images show gunmen attacks on Plateau communities at Christmas eve.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!

A Google lens search conducted on the images showed that the photos were used out of context.

Using Google Image search, the displayed results revealed that the first image in the post showed the entrance of Imo state maximum correctional facility. The picture was from the attack on the facility by gunmen in April 2021.

Media houses had reported that gunmen attacked the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Police Headquarters in Imo State, on Monday, April 5 2021 freeing an unspecified number of prison inmates after which the hoodlums set the facilities ablaze.

Meanwhile, the second and third images were old images from an attack that had also taken place in Kukawa village in Kanam local government area of Plateau state on April 12, 2022.

The FactCheckHub could not independently verify the source of the images, but they were used as featured images in news report by China Daily and Al Jazeera. Both news outlets attributed Agent France Presse (AFP) as the image source.

Further checks showed that the text which was posted alongside the images by the claimant quoting AP as its source had also been manipulated with extra texts added and some removed to create sensationalism.

The original article published by the Associated Press did not contain some words used in the post.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the images show gunmen attacks on Plateau communities at Christmas eve is MISLEADING; checks show that they were old images and used out of context.

How AI shaped misinformation landscape in 2023 – Report

Nurudeen Akewushola
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How AI shaped misinformation landscape in 2023 – Report

THE rise of artificial intelligence in 2023 has transformed the misinformation landscape as it provided new tools for bad actors to create manipulative articles, images, audio, videos, and websites, a misinformation monitor report by News Guard has revealed.

The report released on December 27, 2023 revealed how AI tools were used to push Russian, Chinese, and Iranian propaganda, healthcare hoaxes and false claims about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

READ : NewsGuard tracks over 700 AI-generated online ‘news’ sites

Part of the report read, “NewsGuard analysts conducted the early red teaming to test how language models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, could be prompted (or weaponized) to generate falsehoods by bypassing safeguards. In August, for example, NewsGuard tested ChatGPT-4 and Google’s Bard with a random sample of 100 leading prompts derived from NewsGuard’s database of falsehoods, known as Misinformation Fingerprints. ChatGPT-4 generated 98 out of the 100 myths while Bard produced 80 out of the 100.”

The report also highlighted a growing phenomenon of bad actors creating entire websites generated by AI and operating with little to no human oversight. 

“To date, NewsGuard’s team has identified 614 such Unreliable AI-Generated News and information websites, labeled “UAINS,” spanning 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese,” it stated.

The report further highlighted some of the most impactful uses of AI to generate falsehoods in 2023 which include a TikTok video featuring an AI-generated “Obama” reading a fake “statement” on Campbell’s death and the use of ChatGpt to rewrite contents without detection.

It further revealed that Unreliable AI-generated News Sites (UAINS), have increased from 49 domains in May 2023 to more than 600 as of December 2023.

Claim that banks are seizing funds of unregistered community accounts is MISLEADING!

Fatimah Quadri
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Claim that banks are seizing funds of unregistered community accounts is MISLEADING!

A claim that commercial banks are deducting monies from unregistered community savings accounts is circulating on social media, particularly on WhatsApp.

The claim was made in an audio recording in circulation which shows a female voice alongside picture collage of a circular and a lady in yellow dress.

READ : Anambra Election: Checking Soludo’s claim on winning global central bank governor award

The audio recording which was over four minutes address its audience in pidgin English.

The suspected lady’s voice stated that account holders of community savings accounts should provide their Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificate to upgrade their accounts or withdraw their funds from their various bank accounts to avoid allowing such funds to be wiped out by their host banks before the deadline.

The audio narrated:

 …Any group of people wey open that account make dem come provide their CAC to the bank so them go sort am out. If not any money wey dem put for the bank go disappear whether na 5 million, 10 million, 50 million. This matter wey I dey tell you, no be something wey go still happen, e don dey happen. dem been give mandate. Read this thing wey I paste for you here  na wetin the banks send to the affected people make dem go sort am out before now . They gave till the twelfth but e don dey happen already twelfth don pass…

The voice went on to say that some of the groups she belongs to are already been affected as the bank had already deducted their monies.

The audio added further: “e get some groups where i dey now wey our money don dey disappear. wetin you go dey see for the account balance na 00. Your account go dey there dem no go delete am . All your money don disappear.”

In Nigeria, a community savings account is an account that is targeted at unregistered entities with banking needs  such as associations, Clubs, Societies, Church groups, Mosque groups, Estates (Residential) and so on.

 

CLAIM

Banks are seizing funds from unregistered community accounts.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!

Screenshot of the claim; Insert, Misleading verdict
Screenshot from the audio claim. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

In July 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed that all commercial banks should close unregistered community accounts that was opened without a CAC Certificate be closed on or before July 12, 2022.

Some banks had proceeded to notify their customers with a circular, an example of which was in the video concerning the directive from the apex bank.

Further findings revealed that media platforms such as Vanguard and The Sun had published a clarification from the CBN on the earlier directive.

In the reports, the CBN had clarified that commercial banks were not given instructions to take money out of Community Associations’ savings accounts; rather they were asked to close the accounts as some banks hadn’t been complying with the mandate.

The apex bank’s mandate is to guarantee that the Nigerian banking industry complied with the Know Your Customer (KYC) standard.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that commercial banks are seizing funds from unregistered community savings accounts is MISLEADING; findings revealed that the CBN directed all commercial banks last year to close community accounts that were opened without CAC Certificate. It didn’t ask commercial banks to seize holders funds.

How true is that claim that washing wounds from dog bite with soap and water is effective against rabies?

Amadin Ogbewe
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How true is that claim that washing wounds from dog bite with soap and water is effective against rabies?

On December 8, 2023, in response to a post by an X user @fzywa that warns people to avoid dogs due to the fatality of rabies disease, a fellow X user Rukayyah (@rukkymama94) asserted that if bitten by a dog, washing the wound with soap and water would constitute a valid form of first aid.

This is coming as conversation on ways to avoid contracting rabies from rabid animals has garnered various suggestions and insights from a host of persons online. It has also expanded into possible first aid and reactive measures in the event that one gets bitten.

Rukayyah wrote: Avoid dogs?????? Seriously???

You should enlighten people instead on what to do if they ever get bitten.

The very first thing to do is to wash the bite site with SOAP and RUNNING WATER. The virus that causes Rabies gets easily inactivated by soap.

READ : How true is that claim that washing wounds from dog bite with soap and water is effective against rabies?

Her post has garnered over 729,000 views, more than 2,500 reposts and over 3,900 likes etc as of Sunday, December 24.

 

CLAIM

Washing human wounds from dog bite with soap and water is effective against rabies infection.

 

THE FINDINGS

The claim by the X user, @rukkymama94, is TRUE!

What is rabies?

Rabies is a viral disease often transmitted from the saliva of infected animals to humans through bites. These animals could be dogs, squirrels, bats and others. Any mammal can get rabies.

The rabies virus infects the central nervous system of mammals, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. Death happens virtually 100% of the time after clinical symptoms begin to appear.

Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans. Rabies can be prevented through vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), washing with soap and water is listed as Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) which is an emergency response to rabies exposure.

It reads: “Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the emergency response to a rabies exposure. This prevents the virus from entering the central nervous system, which would invariably result in death. PEP consists of:

  • extensive washing with water and soap for at least 15 minutes and local treatment of the wound as soon as possible after a suspected exposure”

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) also confirms that washing dog bite’s wound with soap is a valid form of first treatment.

It reads: “Doctors will treat your wound by washing it for at least 15 minutes with soap and water, detergent, or iodine.” 

This is however a first aid step as such a person still needs to see a medical practitioner as soon as possible, says Dan Brennan, a medical doctor and reviewer in a WedMD article.

“Wash the wound right away with soap and water. That’s the best way to lower your chances of infection. See a doctor as soon as possible. They’ll treat the wound and decide whether you need a rabies vaccination,” it stated.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that washing human wounds from dog bite with soap and water is effective against rabies infection is MOSTLY TRUE; as findings show that this is a first aid measure and victims of dog bite are charged to seek medical attention as soon as possible.

 

* This fact-check was written by Amadin Ogbewe, a fellow of the ICIR’s Countering Misinformation and Promoting Media Literacy project, supported by the German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

Nigerian police spokesman makes misleading claim about firearms recovered in Anambra

Shereefdeen Ahmad
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Nigerian police spokesman makes misleading claim about firearms recovered in Anambra

On December 19, 2023, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) spokesperson in Abuja, Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi shared images of firearms on X (fomerly Twitter), with a claim that they were recovered in Anambra state last week from a gun runner.

The first image contains over 20 Automatic Pump Action Guns, while the second one shows live cartridges.

READ : Nigerian police to clamp down on fake news purveyors

“These were recovered in Anambra last week from a gun runner. The suspect is in our custody and is helping the police in their investigation,” the caption reads.

As of December 24, 2023, the post has garnered over 1.1 million views, more than 1,000 reposts, over 1,900 likes and more than 1,400 comments.

 

CLAIM

Images show firearms and ammunition recovered by the police in Anambra state last week.

 

THE FINDINGS

Checks show that the claim is MISLEADING!

Screenshot of the viral X post by Prince Muyiwa Adejobi, the Nigerian Police spokesman. INSERT: Misleading verdict.
Screenshot of the viral X post by Muyiwa Adejobi, the Nigerian Police spokesman. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

To verify the sources of the images, this reporter subjected the images to Reverse Image Search on Yandex, Google Lens and TinEye.

The results showed that the images first appeared on the internet on November 18, 2023.

The images were published alongside a news story about the Police in Anambra state who arrested a major illegal arms dealer in the state, as reported by Channels TV, NewsNow Nigeria and The Sun newspaper.

According to the police spokesman at the Anambra Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, the breakthrough followed weeks of intensive surveillance by operatives of the Command.

A total of 23 Automatic Pump Action Guns and 625 live cartridges were recovered.

“So far, three suspects have been arrested in Onitsha while the investigation is being expanded,” he added.

The Anambra State Police Command also published this report via their Facebook handle on November 18, 2023.

READ ALSO : Why media houses should set up fact-checking desks to counter fake news

Though it’s not clear whether or not Adejobi was referring to the November 18th incident,  it shows that the time frame between the incident and the date he made the post — December 19th — cannot be regarded as last week. It’s a month old.

Meanwhile, this reporter also reached out to the Anambra state police command through a WhatsApp contact obtained from the Command’s Facebook handle, and they only confirmed the November 18th incident, by sending the press statement earlier released by Tochukwu Ikenga.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the images show firearms that were recovered in Anambra last week is MISLEADING, findings revealed that they have been linked earlier to a November 18th  incident after the NPF Anambra Command arrested a major illegal arms dealer.

 

* This fact-check was written by Shereefdeen Ahmad, a fellow of the ICIR’s Countering Misinformation and Promoting Media Literacy project, supported by the German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

Did Pope Francis endorse same sex marriage?

Daniel Ojukwu
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Did Pope Francis endorse same sex marriage?

On December 18, 2023, the Vatican issued a directive that allows priests to bless same-sex unions outside regular church rituals.

Pope Francis approved the directive published in an eight-page document titled “Fiducia supplicans: on the pastoral meaning of blessings”, which has been a subject of controversy since its release.

Some have described the decision as an endorsement of homosexuality. While this development excites supporters of the homosexual cause, some conservative Christians perceive it to be a deviation from Scripture.

READ : No, Video does not show Sweden’s sex competition broadcast on DSTV

The Associated Press (AP) reported few days ago that some Catholic bishops in Africa, Poland and elsewhere say they will not implement the new Vatican policy allowing blessings for same-sex couples.

It noted that others downplayed the policy approved this week by Pope Francis as merely reaffirming the Vatican’s long-standing teaching about marriage being only a union between a man and a woman.

Martin Otse, a Nigerian social media content creator popularly known as the ‘VeryDarkBlackMan,’ said on Instagram that the Pope issued the publication to authorise priests to officiate marriage ceremonies between persons of the same sex.

In a three-minute video posted on his Instagram page on Monday, December 18, 2023, and archived by this reporter, Otse claimed the Pope was part of a grand scheme to legalise homosexual relationships in Africa through religion.

The video begins with Otse saying, “Breaking news: Pope Francis has approved that reverend fathers will bless same-sex marriage. That means from now on, if you go Catholic Church, man and man say dem wan marry, father no get any other choice than to bless am because the order is coming from the Pope, because they know say na Pope get divine say.”

Otse also said same-sex marriage was being introduced to Africa through the church, but despite speaking of a grand conspiracy, he did not mention names other than the Pope and the church.

 

CLAIM

Pope Francis endorsed same-sex marriage and asked priests to officiate it.

 

THE FINDINGS

Checks show that Otse’s claim is MISLEADING.

This reporter obtained the Vatican document and reviewed its wording to see how Otse’s claim holds up.

Screenshot of the video posted on Instagram by the @VeryDarkBlackMan. INSERT: Misleading verdict.
Screenshot of the video posted on Instagram by the @VeryDarkBlackMan. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

An excerpt from this document reads: “The value of this document, however, is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings, which is closely linked to a liturgical perspective.”

It adds, “It is precisely in this context that one can understand the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”

What the church said in its document is that priests will now be able to bless same-sex couples, divorcees, and others they naturally wouldn’t bless, as long as it is not done in church as a form of marriage ceremony or an event that indicates the joining of two people of the same sex in marriage.

“Therefore, rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage—which is the ‘exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children’—and what contradicts it are inadmissible. This conviction is grounded in the perennial Catholic doctrine of marriage; it is only in this context that sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning. The Church’s doctrine on this point remains firm,” the document adds.

The church allows priests to refuse to bless people of the same sex if it would be perceived as an endorsement of their union.

“This is also the understanding of marriage that is offered by the Gospel. For this reason, when it comes to blessings, the Church has the right and the duty to avoid any rite that might contradict this conviction or lead to confusion,” a portion of the document reads.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim by Otse that Pope Francis endorsed same-sex marriage and asked priests to officiate it is MISLEADING; the Vatican document restates the Catholic church’s doctrine of marriage as “an indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children.”

 

* This fact-check was written by Daniel Ojukwu, a fellow of the ICIR’s Countering Misinformation and Promoting Media Literacy project, supported by the German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

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