Pope Francis Decries 'Infodemic', Calls Fake News, Disinformation On Covid Human Rights Violation

Denouncing the fake news about COVID-19, Pope Francis has urged people not to pay any attention to the misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines.

Head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State Pope Francis (Getty Image)

New Delhi: The head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State Pope Francis on Friday said that spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines is a human rights violation. He also urged people not to pay any heed to such information and facts. 

Pope's statement came during a meeting with Catholic journalists who have formed a fact-checking network. He condemned the “distortion of reality based on fear".

In less than a month, it is the second time that an 85-year-old has spoken out against misinformation during the pandemic.

"To be properly informed, to be helped to understand situations based on scientific data and not fake news is a human right," he said.

“We can hardly fail to see that these days, in addition to the pandemic, an ‘infodemic’ is spreading."

"In our global society [this] leads to an explosion of commentary on falsified if not invented news,” he added. 

While emphasising eradicating the fake news, Pope said those who believe conspiracy theories about COVID-19 should be mercifully helped to understand true scientific facts.

“Fake news has to be refuted, but individual persons must always be respected, for they believe it often without full awareness or responsibility,” he said.

“Reality is always more complex than we think and we must respect the doubts, the concerns, and the questions that people raise, seeking to accompany them without ever dismissing them.”

Earlier, several far-right Catholic outlets, blogs, and websites have been shut down by social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, for spreading COVID-19 disinformation.