FALSE: Pope Francis announces retirement

At a glance

• Claim: Pope Francis gave a speech, where he announced his retirement.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The speech is an English translation of a homily that Pope Francis gave in 2015 about the importance of forgiveness in a marriage. The Pope did not mention anything about his retirement in the said homily.
• Why we fact-checked this: The post with this claim has over 3,300 reactions, 1,300 comments, and 2,900 shares on Facebook, as of writing.

Complete details

On June 7, Facebook page “Ang Realidad” posted Pope Francis’ speech titled “Family, Place of Forgiveness,” where he supposedly announced his retirement.  

This is false.

Google’s advanced search showed that the Ugandan news website Monitor first posted the speech back in November 2015 in an article titled “Pope’s homily on families.” According to Monitor, the speech was an English translation of a homily that Pope Francis gave in Cuba during the celebration of World Communications Day in September 2015.

The official Vatican transcript of the said homily showed that the Pope did not say anything about his retirement in that said homily.

Google’s advanced search entry also showed that a website named The Paradise made a similar claim in 2019 that the Pope was retiring in December 2020 and had given the speech “Family, Place of Forgiveness” as his retirement speech. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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