Vatican conspiracy theories

Theories involving the Roman Catholic Church

See also: List of conspiracy theories § Anti-Catholic conspiracy theories, and Anti-Catholicism

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St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that concern the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church. A majority of the theories allege that the Church and its representatives are secretly controlling secular society with a satanic agenda for global domination.

## Death of Pope John Paul I

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Main article: Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories

Pope John Paul I died in September 1978, only a month after his election to the papacy. The timing of his death and the Vatican's alleged difficulties with ceremonial and legal death procedures have fostered several conspiracy theories. British author David Yallop wrote extensively about unsolved crimes and conspiracy theories, and in his 1984 book In God's Name suggested that John Paul I died because he was about to uncover financial scandals allegedly involving the Vatican.[1] John Cornwell responded to Yallop's charges in 1987 with A Thief In The Night, in which he analyzed the various allegations and denied the conspiracy.[2] According to Eugene Kennedy, writing for The New York Times, Cornwell's book "helps to purge the air of paranoia and of conspiracy theories, showing how the truth, carefully excavated by an able journalist in a refreshing volume, does make us free."[3]

## Pope John Paul II's 1981 attempted assassination

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For main article, see 1981 Pope John Paul II assassination attempt.

Various theories have been brought forward in regards to the attempt by Mehmet Ali Ağca to kill Pope John Paul II. Those theories have involved the Grey Wolves,[4] the Bulgarian Secret Service,[5] and others.

## Know Nothings

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The Know Nothings were an anti-Catholic political group in the United States in the 1840s and '50s who claimed that the Irish and other Roman Catholic immigrants to the United States would be controlled by the Pope for anti-American purposes.[6]

## Secret archives

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There are several theories about the contents of the Vatican Apostolic Archives: some theories claim that they contain secret information about the Priory of Sion, proof that Jesus had a wife and descendants,[7] secret information about the third secret of the Fatima, the real Spear of Destiny, secret information about the Holy Grail and/or the Ark of the Covenant,[8][9][10] a supposedly-real Chronovisor machine, and many other secrets. There are also theories that claim that the Vatican has information about the Illuminati,[11] and even secretly contains the world's largest collection of porn.[12]

## Jesuit conspiracy theories

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For main article, see Jesuit conspiracy theories.

## COVID conspiracy theory

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A 2022 film called Watch The Water alleged that the Catholic Church created COVID-19 and that the virus was actually a modified form of snake venom designed to turn people into demonic hybrids by altering their DNA. The film received over 640,000 views within two days of its release and the claims became a trending topic on Twitter.[13][14]

## Internet theories and memes surrounding the murder of Popes

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### JD Vance and Pope Francis

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Pope Francis (1936–2025) met with JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States, on 20 April 2025, a day before his death, leading to a semi-satirical conspiracy theory that the meeting had somehow resulted in Francis's health rapidly declining or that Vance himself had killed the pontiff.[15] This resulted in the appearance of satirical memes, vandalism of Wikipedia pages and other internet humour.[16]

## See also

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* List of conspiracy theories#Anti-Catholic conspiracy theories
* Legends surrounding the papacy
* Anti-Catholicism
* Jesuit conspiracy theories
* Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories
* Crypto-papism

## References

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1. ^ "The man who says Pope John Paul II was a fraud - and why he tried to thump me". Independent. 2007-04-07. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
2. ^ Gould, Peter (2005-04-02). "1978: Year of the three popes". BBC. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
3. ^ Kennedy, Eugene (1989-11-05). "Was The Pope Murdered?". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
4. ^ Nezan, Kendal (July 1998). "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade". Le Monde diplomatique.
5. ^ Henze, Paul B. (1985). The Plot to Kill the Pope. Scribner. ISBN 0684183579.[page needed]
6. ^ Anbinder; Tyler. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the politics of the 1850s (1992). Online version; also online at ACLS History e-Book Archived 2009-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, the standard scholarly study
7. ^ "Vatican's newspaper dismisses 'evidence' Jesus had a wife". www.telegraph.co.uk. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
8. ^ "Top 10 Things Possibly Hidden In The Vatican Secret Archives". Listverse. 2020-05-04. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
9. ^ "Why the Ark of the Covenant is one of history's enduring mysteries". History. 2017-01-21. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
10. ^ Ichimura, Anri (April 10, 2020). "The Very Holy and Very Lost Foreskin of Jesus Christ". Esquiremag.ph. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
11. ^ "6 Creepy Conspiracy Theories About the Vatican's Secret Archives | Realm Blog". www.realm.fm. Archived from the original on 2021-04-25. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
12. ^ Adams, Cecil (1982-03-26). "Does the Vatican have the world's largest pornography collection?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
13. ^ "The King Cobra Venom Pandemic: Stew Peters Unveils a New COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory". 12 April 2022.
14. ^ "A Batsh*t New QAnon Documentary Warns That COVID Vaccines Transfer 'Satan's DNA' Into Your Body". 13 April 2022.
15. ^ Stancati, Margherita (21 April 2025). "JD Vance Was Among Last to Meet Pope Francis". The Wall Street Journal.
16. ^ "Why JD Vance memes are flooding the internet after Pope Francis' death?". The Times of India. 2025-04-22. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-04-22.