Misquoting Pope Francis, Mark Zuckerberg, and Abe Lincoln

Posted on October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by Matt Todd

I’m sure you’ve seen the meme floating around the Internet. It’s a photo of Pope Francis with a quote that’s attributed to him. The quote says something like this:

It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional. Notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money — for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in history do not believe in God, while some of the worst deeds were done in His name.

It had made the rounds earlier this year, but it was revived in the wake of all American eyes focusing on the Bishop of Rome. Some think this quote is a nice thought. Maybe they think it’s some kind of olive branch to those outside the Catholic church. They readily shared the meme because it showed how enlightened and progressive this pope is.

Others, however, shared it as proof that Pope Francis is the Antichrist himself. Because if this isn’t blasphemy, it’s pretty darn close. So they say it’s evidence that John the Revelator saw the papacy when describing the evil figure who is supposed to rise to power during the End Times. So they shared the meme, too.

One small problem.

Pope Francis didn’t say that. And it’s really easy to find out that he didn’t say it. Google is our friend when it comes to stuff like this. Here. Let me google it for you.

I know, I know. Everyone got caught up in the hype surrounding the papal visit to these United States. So it was easy to just share this (mis)quote of Francis. It just felt right.

But here’s the deal: just because you put a quote next to a guy’s picture, it doesn’t mean the person actually said it. And it doesn’t matter how much you want the person to have said it. If he didn’t say it, he didn’t say it.

Then, immediately on the heels of the re-emergence of this pontifical post, people started posting facebook status updates with what sounded like a bunch of legalese gobbledygook, talking about how that status was going to keep the social network from using your pictures, information, etc. Then there was something about how the information you share on facebook is confidential.

Ha.

Haha.

Hahaha.

Confidential information? On facebook? You’re joking. Right?

And the legitimacy of that legal disclaimer? Once again, let me google that for you. And then people started posting this crazy hoax about how your private stuff was going to become public if you didn’t pay some crazy fee. Since we’re on a roll here, let’s go ahead and google that for you, too. That would be ridiculous for them to do that. And counter-productive. Facebook has access to something even more valuable than a nominal fee: your data. Facebook is free because they can access your information and use that to get advertisers to pay to promote their wares to you.

So, while it’s free and probably always will be, it really isn’t free. Because you’re paying with information. There really is no such thing as a free lunch, after all.

So there’s a nice little lesson here, kids. Don’t believe everything you see on social media. If it seems too outrageous to be true, it probably is too outrageous to be true. If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true. And if you’re not sure, it usually only takes a quick Google search or a visit to snopes.com to find your answer. And that only takes a few extra seconds. But it’s totally worth it to take that extra step. Wouldn’t you agree?

But wait. That’s not all.

Shortly after that had all come to pass, I received notification that someone had commented on a pin I’d shared on Pinterest. The pin was over two years old, but I’m always happy when someone interacts with something I’ve shared on Pinterest. Here’s what was said:

I…

I can’t…

No.

Just…no…

The Internet is a wild, unpredictable, and sometimes crazy place. Stay vigilant, my friends.

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Matt Todd

Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"