Pope Leo XVI. Image source: CBS News.
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Claim: A Facebook user shared an image of Pope Leo XIV waving the Biafran flag, claiming it is in support of the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu.
Verdict: False. We found no news report or image of the pope waving the Biafran flag. We also discovered that the photo was manipulated.
Full Text
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) agenda continues to play out on social media, with coordinated narratives designed to advance its cause. DUBAWA has consistently tracked and countered false or misleading claims circulated by these groups.
On Feb. 8, 2026, a Facebook user alleged that (archived here) Pope Leo XVI was captured waving the Biafran flag in support of the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu.
The post included an image of the Pope holding the flag with the caption: “Pope raises Biafra flag for first time, supporters say it signals a call to free Nnamdi Kanu and stop killing of Christians.”
The user further explained that the government gesture was a moral message and a lasting solution to the ongoing killing of Christians in Nigeria.
As of Feb. 16, 2026, when DUBAWA last reviewed the post, it had 20 shares, three comments, and 10 likes.
In the comment section, one user, @Alaoma Ezekiel, wrote, “I hope this is not AI. If it is true, thank God for that.”
Another user, @Philip Nnachi, responded, “Nice one,” while @Malachy Ifeanyi commented, “Awesome.”
Other Facebook users shared the same claim here and here. This claim builds on a previous false report alleging that the same pope supported the release of Nnamdi Kanu. DUBAWA, however, debunked this claim.
Given the reputation of the Pope, the status of IPOB in Nigeria, and the continuous use of the Pope’s name in Biafra-related misinformation, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA first searched for published reports that showed Pope Leo XIV waving the Russian flag, but found none.
We conducted a Reverse Image Search using Google Lens. Our search led us to a YouTube video. The video published on Aug. 24, 2025, showed Pope Leo XIV waving after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. We extracted an image from the video that resembled the claimant’s, but the Biafran flag was not visible.
Since the image from the video did not exactly match the one shared by the Facebook user, we used InVID’s keyframe extraction tool on the YouTube video and conducted an additional reverse image search.
DUBAWA located a high-resolution photograph from the same event that shows similar facial expressions and a dark background consistent with the viral image. However, the picture does not show a Biafran flag or the Pope’s hand wrapped around one.
Photo collage showing Facebook image(right) and a similar image (left) from the video, which does not show the pope waving a flag.
Suspecting the image had been digitally manipulated, we submitted it to Hive.ai for analysis. The tool returned a 100% score, indicating that the image is most likely AI-generated.
Result from Hive.ai.
To double-check the result, DUBAWA analysed the image with Truth Scan, another AI-detection tool. It returned a 97% score, confirming that the image was created or edited with AI.
DUBAWA then added the image to InVID for an Error Level Analysis (ELA). ELA works by comparing compression levels across regions of an image to detect potential digital alterations. The analysis produced coloured patches, which affirms that the image was either fabricated or altered.
For the final step of analysis, DUBAWA used InVID to perform double-quantisation of the image. The results showed patterns indicating that the image had been altered, and the visible patches revealed the exact areas of manipulation.
Conclusion
DUBAWA found no evidence that Pope Leo XIV waved a Biafran flag or spoke about IPOB. The claim is therefore false.
