AFP Fact Check: Photo of Pope Francis ‘meeting’ Duterte fake

MANILA, Philippines — A photo circulating on social media showing President Rodrigo Duterte meeting with Pope Francis is fake, international news organization Agence France Presse (AFP) said Wednesday.

The fact-checking AFP has debunked a Facebook post, which has been shared more than 12,000 times, showing Pope Francis shaking Duterte’s hand.

https://www.facebook.com/462560150905255/posts/462563130904957/

The post read: “Ito ang hindi pinapakita sa media dahil puro paninira lang ang alam nila. Sa State visit ni Pangulong Duterte sa Vatican ay kinausap niya si Pope Francis at sinabi nyang ‘God will save you from your critics.”

The altered image has been on Facebook post since September 2018.

Through a reverse-image searching revealed that the photo is an edited version of a photo showing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2016.

The photo was traced to a news article that Associated Press news agency published on August 29, 2016. /je