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FACT CHECK: Pope isn’t seeking Islam, Christianity merger

FACT CHECK: Pope isn't seeking Islam, Christianity merger | iNFOnews.ca
Pope Francis celebrates a new year's Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A widely shared story that claimed Pope Francis called for merging Islam and Christianity is false.

The story quotes Francis as telling a Vatican audience: "Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Jehovah, Allah. These are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world. For centuries, blood has been needlessly shed because of the desire to segregate our faiths."

Another quote it attributes to Francis: "We can accomplish miraculous things in the world by merging our faiths, and the time for such a movement is now."

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke tells The Associated Press the quotes are "invented."

An internet search reveals the fake quotes and various incarnations of the story have been shared by numerous websites since at least 2015.

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Marshall Jones

News is best when it's local, relevant, timely and interesting. That's our focus every day.

We are on the ground in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops to bring you the stories that matter most.

Marshall may call West Kelowna home, but after 16 years in local news and 14 in the Okanagan, he knows better than to tell readers in other communities what is "news' to them. He relies on resident reporters to reflect their own community priorities and needs. As the newsroom leader, his job is making those reporters better, ensuring accuracy, fairness and meeting the highest standards of journalism.

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