[In the second of two posts today about presence and religion, this detailed story from Catholic World Report describes a disturbing form of “fake celebrity endorsement” in which Pope Francis and Cardinal Mark Ouellet are seen in presence-evoking deepfake videos promoting the sale of an “at best theologically dubious” product. –Matthew]

[Image: Real and AI-produced images of Pope Francis and Marc Cardinal Ouellet. Credit: Screenshots courtesy of the author]

Beware of the Deepfake Magisterium

By M. V. Dougherty
January 27, 2025

The use of artificial intelligence to produce fake celebrity endorsements of dubious products is not new and is well-documented, and scores of people have fallen victim to such deceptions. Prelates of the Roman Catholic Church have not been silent on the general dangers posed by the misuse of AI. On several occasions last year, Pope Francis offered remarks about the potential misapplication of various AI technologies. More recently, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, revealed that his department of the Roman Curia is working with the Dicastery for Education and Culture to produce a document on the ethical use of AI.

Some may recall the deepfake images of Pope Francis sporting an oversized designer puffer jacket that circulated on social media in 2023. In late 2024, artificially generated images purporting to depict the Pope in the embrace of an aging pop star drew further attention. These instances of deception, however, may seem innocuous compared to some recent AI-generated appropriations of the likenesses of members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

The year 2025 brings a new round of ecclesiastically themed deepfakes with a much higher order of gravity: they cannot be justified as simply jocose. Instead, they have been produced for a distinctly commercial purpose: to promote the sale of a product that—at best—is theologically dubious.

A set of interrelated deepfake video advertisements currently queuing on YouTube features the likenesses of Pope Francis and Cardinal Mark Ouellet, the former Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops. The deepfake video impersonations of the bishops are used to promote the sale of a mysterious prayer that is claimed to bring extreme wealth and worldly success to those willing to say its words. The 90-word prayer, with a regular price of $179, can be accessed by viewers for the newly discounted price of $59.

The deepfake portion featuring Pope Francis’s endorsement of the prayer is an AI alteration of a real video. In May 2024, Pope Francis was interviewed by CBS journalist Nora O’Donnell for the news program 60 Minutes. The video of that interview—conducted in Spanish with the help of a translator—has been modified for the convincing deepfake. The altered version features Francis speaking perfectly fluent English, with facial gestures and moving lips that match each uttered word. The embedded 60 Minutes logo in the upper left corner of the original has been covered over in the deepfake with a small emblem featuring the recognizable Christian symbols of a cross and a dove above an open book. In contrast to the Pope’s wide-ranging responses to the journalist’s various interview questions, the content of the deepfake pontiff’s message is singularly focused: it is a crass sales pitch. The deepfake Pope says:

“The only thing you need to do to make this happen is to recite the sacred prayer, and then financial blessings will start flowing into your life from every possible direction. If today you need to pay a bill, settle a debt, or simply want more prosperity in your life, the sacred prayer will help you. This prayer is so powerful and so strong that you should only recite it once a day or you might end up attracting too many blessings. Just to help you understand the power of this prayer, it has been kept hidden from you for years because this is the secret that the wealthy use and they don’t want you to discover it.”

The deepfake may be visually convincing, but the message is patently a pared-down version of the so-called “prosperity gospel.” The video ends with the AI-Pope telling viewers: “You could start receiving financial blessings as early as today. Click now.”

Even for the ‘Pope of Surprises,’ the content of the video should be sufficiently incongruent to ward off many viewers from parting with their money. But the quality of the deepfake is likely to fool some people. The appearance of papal authority in fundamental spiritual matters—in this case, how to pray—carries much weight. Indeed, the offering of insights on how to pray has been one of the hallmarks of Pope Francis’s pontificate. Many of his General Audience addresses in 2020 and 2021 constitute a thematic Catechesis on Prayer. Furthermore, his Angelus addresses, as well as spontaneous comments over the years, have examined the topic of praying from a variety of approaches.

Cardinal Ouellet is the main character in a pair of related deepfake videos that also promote the same advertised prosperity prayer. Both videos were produced by altering a 2021 Vatican News video by the real Cardinal Ouellet, in which the Prefect had given a two-minute overview of the history and daily work of the Dicastery for Bishops. The deepfakes preserve the setting of the original. On the back wall of the office is a gold-framed painting in the style of Italian baroque artist Giovanni Paolo Panini that features the interior of St. Peter’s Basilica. Behind the Cardinal can be seen the very top of a chair with the pale blue silk damask upholstery of the Louis XIV-style furniture of the Prefect’s office. To the Cardinal’s left is a landline office phone.

The setting of the original and the two deepfakes are the same, but the messages conveyed are certainly not. In the two deepfake videos, no mention is made of the work of the Dicastery. In the first, the AI-Cardinal begins by addressing the viewer directly, indicating that merely viewing the video is the special result of providence. The viewer is instructed that untold wealth awaits:

“Don’t skip this video. God wants to speak to you. He has chosen you. If you’re watching this video, it means you’ve been chosen to receive unexpected money. A large sum so big that you can share it with everyone you love. […] But if you’re watching this video, you’ve been chosen for this. So, feel special. Today, you have the chance to change your entire life. To access the 60-second prayer and understand all about how it works, all you have to do is click on the Learn More button. You will be redirected to a video where I explain everything.”

This deepfake is visually convincing. If a viewer follows the instructions and clicks to watch the second video, the promised “explanation” of the route to wealth takes a very different tone. This AI version of Cardinal Ouellet addresses the viewer in an exceedingly intimate and personal tone:

“Yes, my child. The time has finally come. I know how much you pray, how often you ask God for help for a miracle. And know this, that moment has finally arrived. Believe me, you’re not seeing this video by chance. You didn’t end up on this page by coincidence. God has been watching over you since the day you were born. He has been by your side since your very first breath. He was there when you took your first step, had your first sip of milk and shed your first tear, and He loves you deeply.”

The danger of these deepfake videos featuring Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet is not only the financial loss incurred by vulnerable people who spend the $59 in this apparent spiritually-themed get-rich-quick scheme. Another harm is that they arguably depict high-ranking prelates inducing viewers to engage in internet-age simony. The sale of spiritual goods has a long and ignoble history; the act of simony as chronicled in Acts 8 now has an apparent present-day counterpart in the YouTube advertising queue.

The second video featuring the deepfake Cardinal Ouellet is over 40 minutes long, but the persona of the Cardinal is only presented at the beginning. A female speaker takes over and explains the purported origins of the prayer in a winding account with many tangents. The gist is that the prayer was discovered in 2021 among fragments of “an ancient biblical scroll from 2000 years ago” in the city of Jerusalem.

After a suggestion that the text of the prayer may be a missing page of the Bible, the speaker states that a copy has been preserved in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The speaker then relates that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the current Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has enlisted her help to share the prayer. Stock footage of a priest is used for Cardinal Pizzaballa, and a screenshot of a Wikipedia page article on him is shown to lend an air of authenticity. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, however, is not subjected to the deepfake treatment given to Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet. Nevertheless, his authority is invoked throughout the video with claims about the prayer’s efficacy and the Cardinal’s promotion of the prayer.

The use of artificial intelligence to produce fake celebrity endorsements of dubious products is not new and is well-documented, and scores of people have fallen victim to such deceptions. AI-generated images and videos appropriating the likenesses of influential people are relatively easy to produce. These creations succeed in fooling unsuspecting viewers for many reasons, not the least of which is that not everyone is well-positioned to recognize the deception. The material harm is great; in the United States alone, AI-generated content creates losses of billions of dollars each year from unsuspecting victims.

But with this new round of deepfake videos, the stakes are higher. The purported sale of spiritual goods online is a new take on an old scheme. The history of the church includes popes and anti-popes, and now, AI-popes.