Pope Francis and two aides tested positive for coronavirus.
The claim originated from an article published by MCM on February 29, 2020, titled "Vatican confirms Pope Francis and two aides test positive for Coronavirus - MCM" (archived here) which opened:, The Vatican has confirmed in a statement that Pope Francis and two of his aides have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.The three new cases add up to the over 400 cases confirmed in Italy under a week.Pope Francis missed a planned Mass with clergy in Rome yesterday after showing Coronavirus-like symptoms.The Vatican had earlier said the pontiff, 83, had a slight indisposition and could proceed with the rest of his planned work today., , Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:, The Vatican has confirmed in a statement that Pope Francis and two of his aides have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus., However the official website of the Press Office of the Vatican makes no mention of the claim at all. Neither does the "Pope" section of the offician Vatican News website. The Pontiff did limit his activities over the past few days due to an illness, but he has since resumed public appearances:, VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday made his first public appearance in four days following what the Vatican has called a "slight indisposition" that forced him to cancel some audiences and activities. The 83-year-old Roman Catholic leader appeared at the window of the Vatican\s Apostolic Palace to address thousands of people in St., , According to WHOIS data, the website mcmnt.com that was behind the hoax was only registered a few days ago:, mcmnt.com Updated 14 hours agoDomain InformationDomain:mcmnt.comRegistrar:NameCheap, Inc.Registered On:2020-02-26Expires On:2021-02-26Updated On:2020-02-26, The site carries no information about who is behind it on an "About" or "Contact" page, as Twitter user Cindy Otis remarked in this Twitter thread yesterday:, 1. THREAD.There\s a fake news story circulating from a website called "MCM News" claiming the Pope has the #coronavirus. The domain was registered in 2016 by a domain squatter in China. The registration was changed three days ago on 26 Feb. pic.twitter.com/G6FLGEm9vg, , 4. Third, there\s no "About Us" or similar kind of page on the website explaining who runs the site and no authors listed on the articles. The articles simply say "mcmpublisher".Fourth, there are ~30 articles posted to the site in total., "When seeing incredible news online that appears to come from a website youve never seen before, it is generally a good idea to check the official websites first before sharing.", See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:, Lead Stories is working with the CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 fact-checkers who are fighting misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the alliance here., Lead Stories co-founder\xa0Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is\xa0endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread\xa0made-up things on the internet.\xa0 He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral., Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, deceptive or\n      inaccurate stories (or media) making the rounds on the internet.\n      \n      Spotted something? Let us know!., Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, deceptive or\n        inaccurate stories (or media) making the rounds on the internet.\n        \n        Spotted something? Let us know!.
Fact Check: Vatican Did NOT Confirm Pope Francis And Two Aides Tested Positive for Coronavirus | Lead Stories