(ZENIT News / Rome, 10.23.2025).- The digital age has found its way into the heart of the Church—and not in the way many hoped. This week, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, long regarded as one of the most prominent defenders of Catholic orthodoxy, publicly denounced a wave of artificial intelligence–generated videos falsely portraying him as a critic of Pope Leo XIV. In a heartfelt statement released across his social media platforms on October 21, Burke declared his “filial love and unwavering respect” for the Pope, while warning that these manipulated images are instruments of division.
“I have learned of misleading publications circulating online that attribute to me words of opposition to His Holiness,” Burke said. “I state clearly and without hesitation that such claims are completely false. I have not made, nor have I ever given, any interview or speech remotely resembling what is being spread.”
The videos—produced using advanced AI tools capable of replicating voice and facial movements—show the cardinal apparently chastising Pope Leo XIV. Burke called the productions “works of deception” marked by “the unmistakable signature of the Evil One, who seeks to confuse the faithful and pit brothers against each other within the Mystical Body of Christ.”
Burke urged Catholics not to meet falsehood with anger, but with prayer. “The first recourse of the Christian in every trial is always the Heart of Jesus,” he said, “who conquers lies through the power of truth and love.” He called on the faithful to pray for those responsible for such digital fabrications: “that, touched by divine grace, they may pass from darkness to the light of truth and be reconciled with God.”
— Cardinal Burke (@cardinalrlburke) October 21, 2025
The episode comes amid a broader rise in AI-generated religious disinformation. Earlier this year, YouTube shut down a popular channel titled “The Sermons of Pope Leo XIV” after confirming that its 26 videos—watched nearly a million times—were entirely artificial. The Pope’s “voice” and “image” had been digitally fabricated, though some content loosely drew on his actual homilies.
The Vatican has yet to comment officially on the Burke deepfakes, but the timing could hardly be more delicate. Interest around the cardinal is surging again as he prepares to celebrate a traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the first since 2021. The liturgy will form part of the revived *Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage*, an event honoring the 2007 apostolic exhortation by Pope Benedict XVI that liberalized the use of the preconciliar rite.
After the restrictions introduced by Pope Francis under *Traditionis custodes*, the pilgrimage was suspended. Its return this year, reportedly with the personal approval of Pope Leo XIV, marks a symbolic moment of reconciliation between traditionalist communities and the Holy See. According to *National Catholic Register*, Monsignor Marco Agostini, master of papal ceremonies, confirmed that the Pope himself authorized Burke’s celebration.
The revived pilgrimage will open with a Latin Mass presided over by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, in Rome’s Basilica of San Lorenzo. Burke’s liturgy will follow a day later at St. Peter’s.
Observers see in these events a twofold narrative: on the one hand, the Church confronting the ethical and spiritual dangers of artificial intelligence; on the other, a cautious but visible reopening of dialogue with those attached to the preconciliar tradition.
For Burke, the two may not be unrelated. His denunciation of AI deception and his call for unity around the successor of Peter echo the same conviction: that truth, charity, and fidelity must prevail in a Church increasingly tested by technological manipulation and internal tension.
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