Bill Gates said that the Catholic religion may have to be suspended forever because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The claim originated in an article (archived here) where it was published by FromRome.info on April 5, 2020, under the title "BILL GATES: THE CATHOLIC RELIGION MAY HAVE TO BE SUSPENDED FOR EVER". It opened:, "Bill Gates is A Demon, what gives him this kind of power? He needs to STFU, hes acting like the lord of light, Satan!", The claim is just one of many that have circulated on social platforms since awareness arose that the COVID-19 was spreading around the world in January, 2020. The Microsoft founder was already a villain for the anti-vaxxer movement because of the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation around the world in promoting vaccinations. Their frontline work against COVID-19 made Gates a big target for conspiracy theorists who have claimed that the pandemic is either not real, is overblown, or is a plot by billionaires and the "Deep State" to convert the world for their purposes., This story is published by a website that calls itself a "journal for Catholics who want to know what is really going on in the Church." Unfortunately, this article that claims Gates is predicting that COVID-19 is the end of the Catholic religion is not "what is really going on.", Gates did an extended interview about his foundations work on the COVID-19 pandemic on The CBS This Morning show April 2, 2020. He said the world is in "uncharted territory" as health officials and leaders try to "minimize the pain" to the economy while trying to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nowhere in the interview does Gates mention the Catholic religion or the possibility is could be "suspended forever.", "Even the issue of once you get the case numbers down, theres a lot of dialogue between our foundation experts and the government now, but what does opening up look like. You know, which activities have, like schools, have such benefit and can be done in a way that the risk of transmission is very low and which activities like mass gatherings may be in a certain sense more optional and so until youre widely vaccinated, those may not come back at all.", Gates never mentioned "forever" shutdowns. He predicted that U.S. society could start easing the "stay at home" strategies in late May or June "for places that do the shutdown well.", "And then you can get it to a low enough level that the ability to test and trace contacts of the remaining people with be very, very high, and so some degree of opening up is possible. Ive said six to 10 weeks, but again every week as we look as those numbers, it will help us see how much longer well have to be in this really extreme mode where were not out and mixing around.", You can watch his interview here. It will start at the point Gates addresses these questions:, Here are some of the other false claims about Bill Gates debunked by Lead Stories;, Fact Check: Video Does NOT Reveal That Coronavirus Vaccine Was Patented By Bill Gates In 2006, "Fact Check: Bill Gates, WHO & World Bank NOT Trumped By President Amid Coronavirus", "Fact Check: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation HQ Does NOT Read Center for Global Human Population Reduction", Fact Check: No Proof Is U.S. Planning to Force Vaccinations With Bill Gates Amid Coronavirus, "Fact Check: Fact And Fiction About Microsoft Patent Application WO2020060606 - CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA", "Fact Check: 496,000 Children In India Were NOT Paralyzed From Bill Gates Polio Vaccine From 2000-2017", "Fact Check: Bill Gates CANNOT Prescribe Drugs, And Dr. Sebi Was Barred From Practicing In Some States", Fact Check: India Is NOT Suing Bill Gates For Vaccination Deaths, "Fact Check: No Deep State Operators Trying To Ban Hydroxychloroquine", Fact Check: Bill Gates Does NOT Have Access To Your DNA And Does NOT Have Ownership In WHO, "Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Write Open Letter Saying COVID-19 Reminds We Are All Equal", "Fact Check: NO Plan By Bill Gates And The Vatican To Depopulate World With Coronavirus Vaccine; Video Misinterprets Gates Speech", Fake News: Bill Gates Did NOT Help Fund Patent For Coronavirus, "Fake News: High-Level Exercise Conducted 3 Months Ago Did NOT Show That A Coronavirus Pandemic Could Kill 65 Million People", Fake News: Bill Gates Did NOT Admit Vaccinations Are Intended To Reduce Population, Fake News: Melinda Gates Did NOT Say We Must Discriminate Against All White People, Fake News: Former Bill Gates Doctor Did NOT Say Billionaire Refused To Vaccinate His Children, , , 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., Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee\s World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You\ll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN., 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: Bill Gates Did NOT Say The Catholic Religion May Have To Be Suspended Forever | Lead Stories