Facebook (FB) pages are sharing a video that claims Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was removed by Pope Francis from Caritas Internationalis (CI) for misusing church money. This is not true.
Posted on Nov. 26, the misleading seven-minute video carried the caption:
“KAHAY0PAN NG D1LAWANG CARDINAL NADlSKUBRE | TAGLE KlNARMA SA PAGWALDAS NG PERA SINIPA NG SANTO PAPA (DEBAUCHERY OF YELLOW CARDINAL DISCOVERED | TAGLE GOT KARMA FOR WASTING MONEY KICKED OUT BY THE POPE)!”
At the 10-second mark, a narrator said:
“Ayon sa balita, ay nadiskubre ang di umano’y kalokohan sa pagwawaldas ng pera ng Simbahang Katoliko kaya naman si mismong Santo Papa na ang sumipa kay Cardinal Tagle (According to the news, the alleged fraud in the misappropriation of the Catholic Church’s money was discovered, which is why the Pope himself kicked out Cardinal Tagle).”
It is wrong. Tagle was not removed as CI’s president because of financial mismanagement.
The Pope removed the entire leadership of CI, a confederation of 162 charities, in a Nov. 22 decree, to “improve the performance of the mission” and prepare for its general elections in 2023.
A media statement the same day by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which supervises CI, said its workplace environment review revealed that “no evidence emerged of financial mismanagement or sexual impropriety.”
However, deficiencies were noted in “management and procedures, seriously prejudicing team-spirit and staff morale.”
Apart from the narrator delivering a monologue, the misleading video also played a clip of a vlogger who discussed the issue and read a report that Tagle was not removed over financial misappropriation.
However, the narrator and the vlogger brought up former president Rodrigo Duterte’s allegation in 2020 that Tagle was using the Catholic Church’s money to meddle in politics.
(Read related story VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Duterte touts false claim that Tagle was kicked out of Manila post)
Tagle is the CI’s first president from Asia, and elected for two terms in 2015 and 2019. He was supposed to end his second term in 2023.
The video was shared by four FB pages namely Philippines PInas News TH (created on Sept. 23, 2020), Duterte News Info TV (Sept. 24, 2020), Showbiz Fanatics (May 17, 2020) and Breaking New Live (created on June 4, 2020 as Sports Super TV Philippines). It collectively garnered 2119 reactions, 386 comments, 460 shares and 61,687 views.
The video also reposted by YouTube channel Bhily TV (July 4, 2012), received 4,562 views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
