Pope Calls for Peace; Haters Fire Back With a ‘Fake Fresh’ Church Burning 

Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for an end to West Bank violence sparked instant backlash — viral posts claimed 27 churches and 400 Christian homes had just been torched in Pakistan. The catch: the footage is three years old, recycled from the 2023 Jaranwala arson attack.

On August 16, 2026, Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and urged a two-state solution during his Sunday Angelus address. His X post on the same quickly became the centre of a heated backlash, involving many Indian accounts alleging that 27 churches and 400 Christian homes were recently burned in Pakistan. The reactions also question the Pope’s silence on the matter.

However, our analysis found that the viral video predate the incident. The images being shared originate from the Jaranwala arson attack in Pakistan in August 2023, not from a recent incident.

What did the Pope say?

On August 16, 2026, Pope Leo XIV said, “I renew my appeal for an end to the ongoing violence against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank, and I urgently call on the international community to work toward advancing the two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.” His X post on the same went viral in no time.

The post, published at 5:30 p.m., had received around 5.7 million views. Numerous Indian X accounts have been reacting harshly and critically towards this, with many calling him an ‘Islamist’ and a ‘hypocrite’. 

The post also attracted several comments demanding action against the Pope, calling him a ‘hypocrite.’ One user wrote, “I renew your incompetence. Christians in Nigeria are dying & you’re here talking about that? Useless clown pope.” 

Another commented, “Please tell me this is a fucking joke. Holy shit. Not one single word about Palestinian terrorism. Not one word about October 7, 2023. There will NEVER be a two-state solution. This idea died when Palestinians invaded our land and slaughtered 1,200 innocent people. Disgraceful.” Several users also tagged Pope, urging them to take action for Christians slaughtered in Nigeria.

Indian accounts backlash

A viral X post by @AjayJadeja171 quoted the Pope’s message to claim that he had failed to speak about a supposedly fresh attack in Pakistan in which 27 churches and 400 Christian homes were allegedly burned. He has also accused the Pope of remaining deliberately silent regarding the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. 

The post has amassed 17k likes and 550k views since Aug 17. 

We also found that, on August 18, another X account named @janardanspeaks also shared the same image, claiming that Pakistani Muslims attacked churches and Christian homes over the last few days.

The post questions Pope Leo XIV and global news organisations like the BBC and Al Jazeera for hypocrisy for not speaking about Christians in Pakistan and Nigeria. The video posted includes graphic images of destruction and smoke, with scenes depicting burned churches, damaged homes, and distressed residents fleeing the area. The post has attracted over 1.9k likes and 20k views on the platform. 

Verifying the Claim

We investigated the viral claim and found no credible news reports or official reports from Pakistan corroborating it as the recent incident. In addition, we performed a reverse image search on the video’s key visuals and found that they matched the incident reported by BBC and Al Jazeera on August 16, 2023. 

We analysed the keyframes of the viral video and found that Nexta TV had shared the same visuals on X as far back as August 18 2023.

The post is captioned “Mobs of locals burn down churches in #Pakistan. There is a version that the riots began after rumours that the church decided to burn the #Koran.” 

The incident involved large mobs attacking and setting fire to multiple churches and Christian homes in Jaranwala, Pakistan, after blasphemy allegations surfaced. Authorities reported arresting more than 100 individuals in connection with the violence.

Pope and his history of peace diplomacy

The Pope has previously posted and supported his cause for the resolution of peace in the ongoing wars, especially about the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

On June 25, 2025, he wrote that he was following developments in Iran, Israel and Palestine ‘with concern and hope,’ while calling for dialogue, diplomacy and peace. On June 22, 2025, the Pope had also referred to the suffering of people in Gaza and other territories, saying that the need for humanitarian aid was becoming increasingly urgent. These earlier posts show that Pope Leo XIV had publicly addressed the Israel-Palestine conflict and humanitarian situation before the August 16, 2026 post.

Our analysis found that the posts corroborating a fresh attack on 27 churches and 400 Christian homes in Pakistan are misleading and false. Both viral posts recycle visuals from the August 2023 Jaranwala arson attack, misrepresenting a three-year-old incident as breaking news. The posts also ignore that Pope Leo XIV has consistently spoken about humanitarian crises across regions, including Palestine, well before his August 16, 2026 statement. Many Indian right-wing accounts are attempting to distort both timeline and context to discredit Pope Leo XIV’s longstanding peace advocacy.